Neon Genesis Evangelion: Revelations
by FireDragonBL
Summary: Chapter 7 is posted. Have any of you wondered, what would occur if the Third Impact didn't happen...If Misato...Kaji...Ritsuko...were all alive? What would happen after NERV is destroyed? Rei-shinji? pairing depends on reviews...SO R&R...
1. Chp 1 New Genesis: The Light in the Dark...

Lo people. Sorry the first version was so screwed over.... This is the first chapter (after having to remove and correct several times...again my apologies) of one of my first fics…pls R&R. Continues during the Evangelion movies, near the end of the SEELE assault on NERV HQ. No crossovers, so don't worry. Just some new characters, along with a new plot and continuation of the old one.

Tai Kotone: a new character that appears. Friends with Ryoji Kaji, Ritsuko Akagi, and Misato Katsuragi. Also seems to know Maya Ibuki. Part of the mysterious GLA organization that has been fighting SEELE for decades before the Second Impact. Will play a major part.

_Neon Genesis Evangelion: Revelations_

**Chp. 1New Genesis: Light in the Darkness**

"Unnhhhhhh," groaned Misato. Somehow she managed to pick herself off from the floor. Blood was dripping down her torn jacket, leaving behind a crimson trail. She coughed out a mouthful of blood and doubled over on the floor in pain.

Visions of past times, good times, flashed before her eyes. Visions of friends and family, Shinji, Rei, Ritsuko, father, and Kaji…

Getting back up, she staggered down the darkened halls, not really seeing anything though, though. Distant explosions rumbled down the darkened halls. _Where…is everyone…? I…_

"I'm sorry everyone," whispered Misato, as she wavered on the edge of consciousness and unconsciousness. "Kaji, you promised…" She was crying again. Gasping for breath that would not come, she leaned heavily against the walls, panting.

_Oh well_, she would see Kaji again soon, she hoped. She then thought of her father. _I'm sorry father, you shouldn't have bothered_. She smiled at that thought.

"Never thought I'd say this before I was Kouzou's age, but, good-bye cruel world…"

Then she fell into a sea of darkness.

_I can't believe they're not married yet_, thought Tai as he ran down the darkened halls. _Thought they would've done so years ago…Must have broken up somewhere between now and then, heh_. Bursts of gunfire and screaming came in all directions. Suddenly, as he was running, the wall beside him exploded, throwing Tai into the air. Wincing as flying shrapnel pricked him all over, he twisted around throwing his legs out to minimize his impact.

Without losing his momentum, Tai planted one foot gently on the opposite wall and struck the wall with the other, reversing the force of the explosion while allowing him to keep running at the same speed on the wall. A second later, he leaped lightly of the wall and was again running with both feet on the ground.

He checked his guns (homemade, which means very sophisticated when talking about Tai, 12 mm Magnum pistols, with enough punch to stop a speeding train: he couldn't help screwing around with the ammunition as well) as he rushed towards the nearest sound of gunfire.

At the corner, he stopped as he heard heavy footsteps coming his way. Rounding the corner, two SEELE soldiers looked at Tai in surprised through their jet-black goggles. One reacted quickly, swinging up an already-smoking assault rifle. _Nice gun…I'll take it_. Tai reached out and snatched away the gun with such blinding speed that it took the soldier two seconds to figure out what had happened. The other soldier quickly drew a pistol and raised it to firing position, but Tai rammed him in the face with the butt of the assault rifle and then spun it around and discharged a round into the man's chest. He dropped like rock.

Tai then threw the gun over his shoulder and shot the remaining SEELE soldier with one of his Magnums, which not only punched through the multi-layered body armor (which was lined with Kevlar as well) but also threw the soldier flying into the wall behind him. He twirled around the gun before sliding it back into it sheath. _Heh…this is the fine line between cannon and pistol…love this thing…_

Looking at the bodies, he noticed that the soldiers were carrying a small, compacted flamethrower along with a rather sinister hand-held grenade launcher. _In close combat?_ He cocked an eyebrow in surprise. _God, they're packing flamethrowers.…assault models?… What kinda' pricks would shoot anyone a point-blank with a grenade launcher? That or they're a buncha dumbasses…Crap, should've been here earlier… could have prevented some of the NERV personnel from being massacred. Damn…I!!! If they've killed Ritsuko or Misato I am going to so freaking kill them._

Turning the corner, he found a door which was battered and looked as though it had been knocked down and put back up rather quickly. _I hate knocking...so I won't knock._

He kicked open the bent and twisted door, and it flew off almost without help. He walked in, stowing away his guns with his katana blade whipping out of its sheath in front of him. It was a spacious room, with several control panels and islands of computers. What had been a pristine research lab, was now a mess of broken electronics, sparking wires, and bloody corpses. Several of the NERV-uniformed corpses had some small handguns laying beside them, showing that they had at least tried to defend themselves before they were overrun. Tai noted with some slight satisfaction that there were three or four bodies clad in the same fashion as the two late soldiers he had ran into. Near the back of the room, there was a group of similarly-dressed soldiers chatting away as though they had just finished a sport game. When the door clattered to the ground, they all whipped around.

They stared at him uncomprehendingly. _Man, they're dumb for a bunch of elites_. He leaned against the doorway and started playing around with his sword. When they saw him twirling his katana around his hand, they took it as a threat and began to raise their weapons. _You're too slow…_ When they fired, Tai was already out of the doorway, sprinting on the walls as streams of bullets splattered holes into the wall, forming trails of smoking holes. Powder and smoke filled the room, making obscuring vision and hiding weapons.

"Who 'da hell is this guy!"

Tai leapt over a console and used it as a shield. He jumped up and tossed some smoke grenades over the top in the soldiers' direction.

"I don't know just frag him!"

Tai sprinted silently across the top of the computer desks.

"Where is he!? Too much smoke dammit!"

"ON the wall!! NO BEHIND Y—"

Tai leapt behind them, launched himself off the wall at the group with a deft kick, spun around in mid-air, and scissor-kicked the first two, knocking them sideways. Tai landed in the middle of the group on one knee. He rose up and spun around, whipping his sword around like a scythe. A second later, all of the soldiers crumpled to the floor, dead before they hit the ground. _You brought it upon yourself_.

Tai looked around the room. It was apparently a large storage room of some sort. He saw some of the ruins of the door on his right, with various debris scattered around, as if the door had been barricaded, but blown open. The room also contained several bodies of NERV personnel. Tai grimaced when he saw some of the wounds.

Walking briskly to the bloodied body of a shockingly young woman who seemed about his age and did not seem to have very many serious wounds. She was lying facedown and had short, dark brown hair, which caused an old memory to resurface, of a girl he once knew. He knelt down and pressed two fingers to the upper side of her neck. There was a small pulse. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned the girl over onto her back.

His eyes then nearly popped out in shock as he scanned the face of the girl. He took his shades off just to make sure…whether she was the person he was thinking about. She was. Startled, Tai called into his comsat on his wrist, "Shadow-01 here, found a survivor, young woman of about 24" S_he should be about that age now…_ "Suffering from what appears to be several blade wounds…might have a bullet or two, but doesn't look like it. Pick her up…coordinates coming your way."

_Just keep on breathing, ja? _

He ran down the hall and came to an intersection. Following a digital blueprint on his wrist gear, Tai took a right and continued running through a series of turns and stairs. He stopped at a corner, when his heartbeat sensor began blinking red. He peered from around the corner, and saw several SEELE commandos standing guard at the door to his destination: the NERV Control Room.

From his coat, he procured a hand held explosive. He thumbed the small pad on the top, priming it.. _Here's your present_, he thought as he tossed the grenade into the midst. Three of them reacted quickly and threw themselves down to the floor when they saw the black orb bounce towards them. The explosion sent a heat wave through the hall and Tai had to duck behind the wall. _Ow, hot, hot, hot!_ Then he jumped out, ran up to a guard who was in the process getting up, and kicked him squarely in the face and spinning him up and backwards.

A bullet grazed his shoulder. He whipped around, moving his head to present a harder target. The commando fired again and Tai was forced to hurl himself forward to avoid them. When he looked up, he found that he was right in front of another commando. _Shit!_ The soldier brought the but of him rifle down, but Tai blocked it with one arm and grabbed the guard's other arm with his free arm and threw him in front of him as shield, just as the other commando fired his automatic on full, spraying the one Tai was holding with bullets.

Tai winced as another bullet shot off a strand of his hair. Tai angrily wrenched the dead commando's pistol out of it s holster a snapped off a shot at the guard (the living one was still emptying rounds in Tai's direction). The shot, though fired in haste, was still quite accurate (Tai has no life apart from writing songs, kicking soccer balls, sparring with holograms, and shooting wooden figures, among other random activities; unfortunately, such a stressful lifestyle leads to various predicaments, such as hangovers), and struck the guard in the chest. When he continued standing, Tai thought that the bullet hadn't pierced the armor, but when raised the pistol up for another shot, the guard toppled over. The bullet had actually hit the joint between the chest and neck guard. Tai, with one hand, disarmed the gun and tossed the remaining parts aside.

Tai strode over to the wall panel beside the door and rapped in a series of numbers he read off a slip of paper. Another panel slid open, revealing a handprint sensor. Tai frowned at it, then pulled out one of his Magnums and blew out the panel. The door slid open. Tai ran into the room and fired several shots at the first few SEELE soldiers he saw, knocking down several of the SEELE soldiers who were apparently guarding a group of captured NERV personnel. The other two remaining guards cocked their guns at him and opened fire.

Time seemed to slow to Tai, as he jumped up and spun around horizontally, head pointed at the soldier in mid-air to present a smaller target as he had practiced, while rapidly spinning his blade in front of him, deflecting part of the hoard of bullets flying his way. He landed in a kneeling position and with impossible speed and skill hurled his katana through the air, which found its way to one of the guards. The soldier gasped as the blade sunk into his chest. He fell backwards firing his gun at the ceiling.

Suddenly, a Teflon-coated bullet found its mark and tore into Tai's upper left leg, blowing right through the body armor, splattering his leg with blood. Tai fell down hard on one knee._ They use Teflon? They've gotten smarter_. The guard, having used up the round, threw away the gun and drew a combat knife and sprinted at Tai. He thrust the blade at Tai, who jerked his head to the left, but a thin red line appeared on his cheek. _Damn he's fast!_

As a drop of blood ran down his face, Tai brought his arms up and clasped them around the commando's arm, and then, with a jerking motion, snapped the commando's arm, issuing a sickening crack. Tai then, grabbing the SEELE commando by the broken arm, heaved him about and hurled him against the wall behind him. Right when the guard hit the floor, Tai whipped a shuriken at the guard. The guard had no idea what killed him. The main door behind him slid open, revealing a detachment of more SEELE commandos. _Maybe I should've brought the chain gun…_

Tai quickly took something that looked like a flashlight out and pointed it at the group of soldier. _Didn't want to use this yet…_ He flicked it on. A blinding flash enveloped the room. The soldiers stumbled around clutching their goggles. Tai, also momentarily blinded, pulled out both magnums and fired randomly at the sources of sound in front of him.

He felt bullets whiz by his head as they returned fire. Another bullet struck his arm, but was deflected by his armor. When the room finally revisualized, Tai blinked and took a look. All of the SEELE soldiers had been downed. He turned around to look at the NERV personnel. Luckily, they had all thrown themselves to the floor when the brief firefight occurred. Some were still rubbing their eyes from the flash he had given everyone.

After he retrieved his weapons, Tai turned around and contacted his specialist team and gave them the location of the NERV survivors he found. He then quickly put away his comsat and used a kunai dagger to dig out the bullet, with the help of a miniature metal detector.

He slowly moved the device over his wound, until it flashed red. He winced in pain as he pulled out the crimson-red bullet. _At least the armor absorbed most of the blow_. He stood looked again at the huddled group before him. Then he looked to the bodies scattered all over the platform. _What the hell!? They killed most of the technicians…they were all unarmed!_ Immediately another wave of anger surged through him, though his outward expression remained the same.

His face impassive, Tai took off his glasses and studied them. They drew back when he looked at them. Then he broke into a grin and said to the shivering group (made up of mostly, what it seemed, 20-year old girls and boys. Of course, they were very smart girls and boys), "Don't be afraid. You are now under the protection of the Dragon Vanguard of the GLA, as requested by U.N. Special Agent Ryoji Kaji."

_This…is…a massacre…what can we do…nothing can save NERV now…what are there, three NERV facilities left? _He had left several of his men with the surviving NERV members that they had found. The rest were combing the corridors for SEELE forces. Tai was searching for people to be saved, yet so far he had killed more than he had found.

At a corner, he turned…and walked right into the barrel of a MX2 assault rifle. Tai blinked at the gun through his sunglasses. The mustachioed owner was not wearing a mask or helmet, and was smiling maliciously at him. _Not good…definitely not good…_. Tai winced as he saw the commando tighten his finger on the trigger. A blast went off somewhere next to his ear, temporarily making him deaf. Tai looked in bemused surprise, as the commando's face had become a look of shock as he slumped backward. He smiled.

"Li-Chan…I was wondering what was taking you so long…"

"Tsk tsk…you're so careless…Tai…we can't afford to lose another commander at a time like this…especially one that is also an operative…"

Tai turned to look at a pretty, slender woman with long, black-hair. She had fired a pistol right beside his head and was still holding the smoking gun there.

Tai grinned again and said, "Now really, did you have shoot the gun next to my head. You almost blew out my eardrums you know. You just couldn't resist shooting without the silencer"

She grinned mischievously at him.

"Well, what's up?"

"Reports are in. We have recovered only 34 survivors. SEELE apparently went on a killing spree once they got here. We estimate that we have approximately twenty more minutes before SEELE reinforcements arrive."

"Only 34?"

"Unfortunately yes…I'm sorry, sir, I understand that you knew some of them personally."

"Don't be…you did your best…but what's done is done …go back to the rest of the group and tell them to prepare to leave. See if you can find a couple more poor souls though. That was the point of the mission." He gritted his teeth.

"Of course." she looked at him with concern and added, "Take care, sir."

"You too…"

With that, he watched her sprint into the darkness…

He stopped at a stairway. _It's flooded. They #&$ & #$& flooded the lower levels!!!! What the F###!!!!!!!! _Fuming, he pulled out a breather, put it in his mouth, and dived into the water. The sight he saw left him horrified. Here and there was a corpse wearing the NERV personnel uniform, except some of these had weapons, which explained why they were more mutilated than the other corpses he found. _I'm gonna have nightmares'bout this for a long, long time. Damn!!, why didn't they have surrendered? They would have been spared, well at least most of them_.

Tai swam around through the flooded halls every now and then checking a hologram presentation of the NERV HQ layout, which was projected from his wrist gear. The hologram glowed eerily in the murky water, providing some light for him. In the middle of a corridor, he found a huge hole in the wall on one side, which looked as though it had been melted through. He swam through it cautiously. Tai then found himself in a huge room with furniture and bodies floating around. _Please don't be dead… please don't be dead…_

Faces flashed all around him, yet all were cold and lifeless…

"All this death, destruction, all because of a group who wanted to play god. SEELE will pay dearly for this." He muttered through the breather. Feeling some movement and hearing a splash in the water above him, he quickly looked up and was hit head first by a body.

Brushing long, dark hair from his face, he examined the body. It was a young, slender woman whose dress did not seem regular for any NERV personnel. But he saw several pips on the collar of her jacket, which meant she was of high command. His heart beating rapidly, he brushed away wisps of hair from the face. In shock Tai open his mouth and lost his breather. "Misato," he breathed and quickly brought the young lady to the surface and checked for a pulse.

Fortunately, there was a small pulse. Tai then pulled out a self-inflatable survival vest and put it on Misato. _Thank God, Misato, It's been a while, _he thought as he looked at her serene face. Tai then checked for any open wounds. He found the bullet hole, and then took out another kunai dagger.

"Sorry, but this may hurt," he said to the unconscious Misato, "but you're a tough girl… aren't you?". He quickly performed some basic surgery, which he happened to have learned at Harvard Graduate School (he went there for six months then transferred to another university in Germany), removing pieces of cloth and shrapnel from the wound. He then used a metal detector to find the whole of the bullet, which he then took out with an electrically charged magnet. After he sealed the wound with some bandages and disinfectant, he left a tracker bit on Misato and dived back under to search for more survivors.

Misato awoke, blinking to a bright light. She found herself on a white bed in a room, which made her think she was in the hospital. She found that a bandage covered her left eye. She quickly shielded her eyes with her hands. She then moved a hand down to the spot where she had taken a hit in the desperate battle for the survival of NERV. She felt that it was bandaged thickly. An image of Shinji flashed through her mind. _"How many people have to die to save humanity?"_

"Sleep well, princess?" asked a man with a ponytail.

_That voice, it couldn't be. I saw him die, his body…_

_I must be dreaming. But maybe I'm in heaven and he's here to welcome me. I'm so happy…._

_Wait a minute…_

"Kaji…?"

"You called?" said Kaji leaning over her.

Misato immediately attempted to sit upright, but Kaji gently pushed her back. "You're alive!" Misato breathed.

"Right back at you," said Kaji.

"Well it's been a while…." He said, pulling up a chair.

"How are you feeling?"

"Okay I guess, but I feel much better now that you're here." "But I saw you die…., how?"

"Correction, you saw me get wounded," and with that he unbuttoned his shirt, revealing scars from multiple bullet wounds on his chest.

"No, that's not right." He frowned, "You don't even know where I supposedly died. You must have been dreaming or something. Fact is...I don't know how I survived..."

"But how am I still alive?"

Kaji replied, "Oh, I just pulled some strings and called in some favors…beforehand of course...I had guessed that SEELE would attempt to storm NERV HQ."

"Sounds just like you, taking control of everything. But what about the others…Ritsuko…Maya…the Children. And how long have I been here?"

"Ritsuko, like you, is recovering. Maya is also recovering, but she's suffering from blood loss, but don't worry, the technology here is much more advanced than what we had back at NERV. Well, at least the medical technology is. Of course, there is no NERV anymore, after SEELE blew it to shreds. Huh, we took almost 90 casualties. Of course, I'm not exactly considered NERV personnel. Don't worry about the Children. I'm pretty sure they're alive and well. They should be able to take care of themselves for the time being. And you were brought here about…uh…I think six days…or a week ago."

"I was unconscious for that long???… Well, where is here?"

Kaji quickly said, "Don't worry, you'll find out soon. But right now, you need to rest, so sweet dreams sweetheart."

And with that, he got up, kissed her on the forehead, and strode jauntily out of the room whistling some tune unbeknownst to Misato.

Misato then thought, _maybe this is heaven and Kaji is playing a prank on me. But then again, I guess you can't do that in heaven…could be hell, but I don't ever recall hell having white, fluffy pillows…or bandages on that thought..._

And with that thought, she drifted back into darkness.

Outside, Kaji was met with a grinning Tai. Tai folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

"You know, I still can't believe you aren't married, or haven't gone out in about half a decade. How the hell did you get dumped? As how the times are…"

Unfazed, Kaji just smiled and said in a strange, questioning tone, "Well, who are you seeing?"

"I'll look to Maya first, you can go see Ritsuko."

"I meant go out with. But I guess that's a good answer. Maya's a cute girl…really smart…"

"How do you know she's not my sister in the first place?"

"Because…ah. Good question…you have a sister?"

"As a matter of fact I do," he crossed his arms, looking out the window, "No, I don't think you've met her…as I haven't seen her in a little less than…two and a half decades. Don't even know if she's…alive…" at that, he gazed away again, his eyes misting over. A second later, he snapped out of his and said, "Anyways, Maya isn't my sister, just a friend I met in Tokyo-3 on a business trip six years ago. An old classmate"

"Oh, then you do like her (I don't ever recall her mentioning you...classmate?)."

"No…of course…not…she's...just a friend..."

"Suuuure. How long have you been hitting on her? **cough** **hack**!"

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Don't force me to resort to a blunt object!! Anyways, what about you and…KAT!!?? Hmmm!???"

"Who's Ka-…oh yeah, I forgot you used to call Katsuragi Kat."

"You forget a lot of things. Well enough chitchat. Let's go pay our respects to the dear dead and sleeping. See you later."

Tai then strode briskly off toward Maya's ward, the hems of his coat whipping around him.

_Well, they would make quite a cute couple, but about me and Misato…_ thought Kaji, grinning to himself, as he walked to Ritsuko's ward to give her a wake up call.

Maya tried to reach for the people around her for help, but then, they all turned into bloody corpses, which started grabbing her. She tried to run and scream for help, but they surrounded, holding her down and…someone was shaking her and calling her name.

"Maya, Maya snap out of it!" Her eyes snapped open and blinked several times in the bright light. She was sweating and trembling. Someone was calling to her. _Was it heaven…?_ No, the light came from an electric light. Someone was wiping her head with a wet cloth. "Don't worry now. You're safe. Gave me quite a shock…never thought I'd find you in a place like that. Kaji apparently forgot to mention that you were working for NERV…of course...he didn't know that I knew you personally anyways..."

As her eyes refocused to the light, she saw an oddly familiar face. The young man standing over her bed seemed to have come from one of her memories, one certain memory from her college days.

"T-Tai?"

"Yes?"

She sat up abruptly, causing Tai to jump up from his chair in alarm and hold out an arm to steady her

"Oh my—I can't believe this. I-I thought was dead. And now you appear. I thought you were dead half a decade ago. I got word th-that you h-had died in a car accident," she stammered, clasping a hand to her face, "How did you…? And what about the others..? They just came in and started shooting everyone!! They didn't spare anyone...I was so scared."

Tai cupped a hand on her cheek and said soothingly, "Well, you're in good hands. And yes, it has been a while, hasn't it. It's been five long years. And don't worry; this isn't heaven. You're still quite alive."

"I…didn't think I would make it, I was so scared of dying when I saw everyone get shot and stabbed. Then some of them spotted me…and…and…th-"

Tai shushed her by putting two fingers over her mouth.

"Don't say a word…" he smiled at her, "I understand how you feel. I was put in the same situation a very long time ago."

"You…were?"

He nodded, still smiling. _I am such a sentimental blob_. He pushed her back down.

"In my business, that's how you usually start off your career, as you probably guessed back then… You shouldn't move. You're still recovering."

"But Tai…how did you survive? And how did you find me?

"You were such a nice little girl I couldn't just let them kill you," said Tai, smirking, but all the while ignoring the former part of her question.

"You're still addressing me as the little girl? I thought I said I didn't like being called that…a long time…ago…"

"You did, I just didn't feel like listening (when was that again? Like in Physics class or something…)."

"You're so mean, Tai... sigh you never will change will you?"

"I've already changed. You just haven't noticed it."

She smiled, and he leaned back and said, "You should go to sleep, you're still suffering from blood loss and a minor concussion, not to mention several broken bones. It would be best if you got some rest. Call if you need me" And at that, he placed a small circular object on the cabinet beside her bed

And quite soon, she began to doze off and fall asleep. Tai pulled the bed cover over her and walked to the door. Before he turned off the lights, he whispered,

"Forgive me, Maya, for bringing you into this hellish mess, but I do wish we could have met under different conditions…seven long years ago…"

end chap. 1

After the Show (thx to QuickSilver Dragon EX) 

curtains close and audience cheers

Tai walks onto stage

Tai: Hey people, so how was the first episode?

Audience cheers again

Tai: good…very good.

Gendo Ikari walks on stage

GI: why the hell am I not in this chapter!!!?

Tai: We have our reasons…

FireDragonBL walks onto stage

BL: Lo people this is FireDragonBL. Thanks for reviewing my story. Hope you enjoyed it.

GI: Hey! You're the goddamn writer who wrote the script, aren't you? Why aren't I in this? I should be the star!!!

BL: Well…I was going to put you in…but Rei was afraid you would molest her again…and Shinji, along with half the crew, wants to shoot you…and …well…you were in the original script…but Tai was supposed to take your head off with his crazy Magnum…but I thought that would be too mean…so in my story!! You're dead!!

GI: I'LL KILL YOU!!!

Gendo pulls out a gun and points it at BL

audience screams as a gun shot echoes

Gendo's headless body collapses to the floor. Audience groans in disgust

BL: Eww…you didn't have to use your Magnum ya know?

Tai: He deserved it…my Magnum needed practice anyways…

Tai pockets the Magnum

BL: Okay dammit where's the freaking janitor when you need one?

Kaji jumps on stage

Tai: Hey Kaji! Where you been?

Kaji: **pant** Misato…**pant**

Tai: Huh?

Kaji: **pant** found beer in fridge…**cough**

Tai: Oh that's just—

BL: NOOOO MY SECRET STASH OF B33R!!!

audience laughs

Tai: You're still in high school…

BL: Oh yeah…NOOOO MAYA'S SECRET STASH OF B33R!!!!!

Kaji: **cough **Maya **cough **only drinks coffee…it was my stash….and its gone…

BL: WH47 NO B33R H3R3??

Tai: Calm down…at least she didn't find my morphine stash…

BL and Kaji stare at Tai

Tai: just kidding…heh **cough** well what's so bad about Misato getting drunk? Well I mean its bad, but she should get over it soon…

Kaji: She found your secret stash of rocket launchers…

Bl: Say what?

distant explosion rocks the room

Tai: Oh crap…we're screwed.

Kaji: Okay people clear out, there a mad drunk out there with enough firepower to bring down the house!

audience laughs

Kaji: I AM NOT JOKING!!!

Tai: Uh yeah, k people show's over any last questions?

Random Girl: Can I have your phone number?

Tai: Uh no.

Random Girl #2: Hey Kaji, can have your phone number?

Kaji: My drunk former-ex-girlfriend is rampaging around here somewhere with mobile artillery, so no.

BL: Okay people goodbye and come back for the next chapter

Tai: yeah, we're gonna talk about firearms safety next time k?

Kaji: Bye! Go back to your homes NOW!!!

audience groans and begins to leave

the left wall explodes and Misato staggers in, lugging a huge Panzercannon

Tai: Or maybe we should talk about the effects of alcohol on certain people…

Kaji: I second that motion

BL: Uh, you boys have fun…I'll…go write the next script

BL runs off the stage

Tai and Kaji are left alone on the stage. Misato stands in the center of what used to be the third row. Surrounding her is wreckage left from her explosive entrance. She sways drunkenly as she looks up at the two figures on the stage with her unfocused eyes.

Tai: Kaji? Isn't she your girlfriend?

Kaji: Well technically we haven't "gotten back together" if you know what I mean…

Tai: She's still your girlfriend…have fun.

Tai disappears behind the curtains

Kaji: (to himself)…Now I'm scared…(to Misato). Hey baby! Want to go get wasted again?

Misato raiser the rocket launcher to her shoulders

Misato: Angels **hic** must be exterminated…**hic**

Kaji: …I am so screwed…Come on Misato! Snap out of it…it's me, Kaji!

Misato: Target **hic** acquired…proceeding to neutralize AT field…

end after-show 1

Thx again to Quicksilver Dragon EX for letting me use his idea for a chapter-ender thingy

k people…pls R&R…it'll make my life much easier…and don't get put off by the fact that the Children haven't appeared…this is only the first chapter…they'll appear in the next.


	2. Chp 2 In a World of Their Own

Yeah…this is chapter two…enjoy. And R&R afterwards…

Yayy! The Children are back!

**Neon Genesis Evangelion:** Revelations

Chp.2 In a World of their Own

The week after the attack on NERV was one of great sadness. Shinji, Asuka, and Rei had all dramatically changed due to the recent events (well, not really then again). They all were mourning the loss of Misato, Shinji's surrogate mother/sister, Ritsuko, the guiding hand and guardian in battle, and Kaji, Asuka's supposed crush.

Shinji was now even quieter, calmer, but less pessimistic about things, though he seemed to accept things as they were. Asuka was missing her arrogant, bossy attitude, which had been replaced by a calm, thoughtful one, which was strangely confident (actually, on the other hand, ignore the calm and thoughtful part and add back in the bossy attitude part).

Rei had gone through the smallest change. The quiet, pretty, blue-haired girl in the class, she never had been very social, nor friendly towards anyone in particular. She would actually converse with Shinji openly though, which shocked Asuka (And made Shinji blush a lot more than he needed). But she still kept her usual monotone voice. But neither Shinji nor Asuka could stop staring when Rei started showing emotion, such as smiling (though still rarely) and the occasional frown.

The next day, Shinji was playing around with his pen. As before, he dropped it, and it rolled under Asuka's desk, which was a rather familiar scenario.

"Here, catch." Said Asuka throwing the pen to Shinji, who caught it by the tip instinctively. _What, no gum? _

He looked back at Asuka, who smiled back at him. Shinji quickly turned back to his work, clearly disturbed by the fact that Asuka sincerely smiled at him. _Was that really sincere?_

Shinji then sneaked a look at Rei, who was also fiddling around with her pen. Rei noticed this and waved to him. Shinji blushed and quickly immersed himself in his work.

_Hmmm, Shinji isacting strange again_…Rei thought as she typed in the conclusion to her essay on nuclear reactors. _But then, after what's happened these past few days, I can't really say he changed. I still don't know what happened to my mind…I just don't understand…or remember. Even Asuka has changed. So many losses... all of our lives have changed. _She frowned._ Now I have no purpose in life…no purpose_, the thought petrified her, _…no wait… what about what Shinji said a while ago...what was it..."One day we'll both be glad that we survived"…something like that…what did he mean? Anyways...one thing's for sure…our lives will never be the same…_

"Kaji…I wish you were still here…then I wouldn't have to put up with all this crap." murmured Asuka drowsily. She looked around the classroom. By now, most of the kids whose families had transferred to escape the angels had returned. Everything seemed the same as before, even after the near-catastrophic events, except for Shinji and Rei. _Well, not Shinji that much._ Rei, she saw, seemed to be fighting inner emotions, her face contorted in exasperation, something both her and Shinji were still getting used.

_Now that's just creepy…Wondergirl plus emotion equals girl withsome majorissues…

* * *

_

"Well, Akagi, by the looks of it, you still haven't gotten a boyfriend, have you?"

_Betrayed, again, first by Gendo, then by the soul of my own mother._

"Is anyone in there?"

_Why does everything always go wrong?_

"Come on Ritsuko, I know you're alive."

_I did it for her... why did she betray me…? It's all over. _

_Is it raining?_

Her eyes snapped open and saw a sponge held over her head.

"Ah, welcome back Ritsuko. I thought I had lost you there for a second."

_Was that Kaji? No, this must be SEELE attempting to interrogate me._

She turned her head so that she faced the person with the sponge. What she saw sent a shock down her spine. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "What the…Oh my god, Kaji…"

"Yes I know. I can't even believe myself." He grinned

Ritsuko immediately sat up staring at Kaji, who grinned mischievously. He sat back and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, you know," he said, "You should be dead too."

"But, it was Gendo who shot me from behind."

"WHO!" said Kaji in disbelief, "Gendo? Why would he do that?"

Ritsuko then lowered her head, saying nothing. Kaji could see that there was another side to the story.

"Why? Come on…you know you can trust"

She laughed weakly, "Umm, Kaji, I really don't feel like talking about it right now."

"Oh come on Ritsuko, we've all got secrets but they have to come out eventually."

"Yes I know, but not now. Anyways, I've got a headache now, so could you please leave me alone?"

"Oh, come now Ritsuko, you're acting rather cold today…"

"Please Kaji, I have a headache."

"Okay, okay, jeez, I was just worried about you." He smiled at her as he got up.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry 'bout it. See ya later." And with that, he got up and left her to her own thoughts.

_Maybe I should have told him…_

* * *

"Targets currently moving towards us from the west at 60 kilometers an hour. Speed steadily increasing." 

The wide blast doors opened, and Tai entered the command room flanked by Chief of Operations Takeda Hyushi and Commander Matt Shindo. "What's going on?"

"We're tracking several large groups of aircraft moving towards our base. They're not carrying our IDs. Security level yellow?"

"Yes. What kind of aircraft?"

The technician chief replied, "Unsure right now, but they're definitely some type of new superiority fighter craft, apparentlymore advanced thanwhat we have. Some kind of lightened titanium alloy, but nothing that our weapons can't penetrate. Several weapons pods, a little more aerodynamic than some of ours. They number around a hundred so far as we can tell, probably more."

"Well, if they've discovered us," said Tai, "That could be a problem. But I'm sure our G-units units can take care of them easily."

"SEELE apparently has also sent a small naval fleet to back 'em up. But we crushed them the last time we engaged them."

Suddenly, one of the technicians yelled out in a panic, "Three Evangelion Units have appeared behind the aircraft, along with several groups of what appears to be MCV's!"

"What!" cried out Tai incredulously, "They have our technology? Everyone, Battle stations. Red Alert. Security level 1!"

"Several groups of enemy MCV's have alsoappeared to the east 400 km away!"

The room went from fully lighted to emergency red lights. Then the battle sirens sounded. Matt went to his console and yelled into the intercom, "All pilots prepare to sortie. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not drill. We are under attack."

Takeda quickly moved to shout out orders.

"Activate anti-air batteries network and ground gun network."

"Ground gun defense network online! Operating at 98 percent."

"Anti-air intercept system operating at 50 percent. Will be at 100 percent in twenty seconds."

"Observation cameras on." Holo-screens popped up all around them, depicting parts of the islands, as well as strategically placed camera buoys in the ocean.

"Power the generators. Send an encrypted alert message to Command Wing over secured channel Alpha-Oh-six-five"

" Shield Generators 1-4 are ready for deployment."

"Message sent. HQ is not responding."

_Damn it! _

"Scrambling ground armor and AAS support."

Suddenly the elevator doors opened and Kaji rushed in.

"Tai, what's going on?"

Tai replied rather calmly for the present situation, "SEELE appears to have finally gotten annoyed with us so-called terrorists. They feel that we are getting too powerful to ignore any longer. They've finally sent an armada to openly attack the Vanguard, or us. Takeda! You're in charge while I'm out there."

"Yes…", he replied.

"Matt, let's go."

Matt nodded and followed Tai into the elevator.

Kaji then asked Takeda, "Where are they going? I thought Tai was in charge of this place?"

"He is, and he's also the pilot and lucky owner of one of the G-suits, codenamed "Gear fighters". That means he'll also be participating in combat. As well as several of the other Vanguard officers."

Kaji stared at Takeda, bewildered for a couple of seconds, and then said, "Oh…"

_What's a Gear fighter?_

"Camouflage holograms system online."

* * *

"Come on you old ladies, hurry up and you may yet get in the first shot," hollered Tai to the pilots he was leading. There were 6 MCV units of ten each (not counting the squad leaders). Each unit was heading by a squad leader with his or her own personalized G-suit except for the shadow squadron, which was the top MCV group in the GLA. 

Tai's was the _Blue Lancer_, while Matt's was _Hellscythe_. The hangars were a hive of activity, with prep crews scurrying around making final check-ups on each mobile suit, while pilots were getting dressed and running to their mobile suits. In the Hangars on the other side of the base, superiority fighters were being prepped as well.

The inside of the mobile suit cockpit was like a mini-planetarium with the seat and controls suspended in the center. Tai looked around him, scanning the hangar (through the hologram globe around him). He saw Li-Chan in her usual grey jumpsuit still leading her group to the other side of the hangar. He saw that the other pilots in his group had gotten into their MCV. He grinned and opened a channel to Li-Chan's G-suit, _Alpha Centauri_, just as she opened the cockpit.

"Hey Li-Chan, better get a move on it…or you'll be late for the party again…like last time."

"SHUT UP!" came the terse reply.

"Okay, Shadow squadron, you lead the way," called Tai into his communicator, still grinning, " with Thunder and Alpha flanking you. Matt they're all yours. Over."

"Roger that. Over."

* * *

Back in central command, Takeda took a look at the statistics of their combat force. "This will be an interesting battle." He breathed. All of the data gathered on the attack force of SEELE estimated that it was about 350 aircraft, to our 125, and about 100 MCV's 9 Evangelions, to our 70 MCV's 6 G-suits. SEELE also had 2 _Mammoth_-class battlecruisers, literally flying fortresses bristling with weaponry. They, on the other hand, had 4 submarines, a heavily modified battleship, and 2 cruisers. 

They had devoted some their forces to other operations around the globe and also to the GLA. They also had no battlecruisers at the moment, for one was undergoing repairs, while the other two were at bases located on the other side of the globe. In fact, their section of the GLA did not actually control one of the battlecruisers (the Vanguard, if you haven't noticed, is only one division of the GLA).

Few Battle AAS (Armored Assault Suits) were going to be used here, since it was a battle over a body of water (AAS look less humanoid than their cousins, the MCV's, and some AAS weren't even humanoid in design anyways. Some were shaped like animals and stuff; mostly flightless birds and blocky robots at that). Only a couple lances of them guarded the island.

"Doesn't look good, sir, does it?"

"Actually, it does theoretically…of course there are variables… Well anyways, activate the interior defense-systems."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"Shinji, watch out!" 

"Huh?"

TWHACKK!

The rubber ball smashed into Shinji's face, sending him spiraling to the ground. Aida ran over to him and lifted him up. They were at the moment playing dodge ball in gym class

"God, Shinji, what's wrong with you. You've been like you're in a daze."

Shinji, rubbing his injured face, replied, "Sorry 'bout that, I just can't really concentrate today."

"Well at least try not to turn into road kill when you walk home. K?"

"Whatever."

* * *

At the swimming pool, Asuka and Rei were looking through the fence at the boys' dodge ball game. 

"I really miss Kaji." Sighed Asuka, turning around

"Shinji's upset over Misato. She looked after all of us," said Rei, still looking into space.

"You know, Rei," said Asuka, leaning against the fence, "Of the three of us, you've seemed to have changed the most. I mean, you openly voicing your opinions and emotions…that's not like you" Rei stared at her

with a blank expression, "Well maybe not your emotions. But we're still getting used to that anyways"

Rei said nothing (as usual). Asuka noticed this and immediately changed the subject.

"Well, what do you think of Shinji? I mean, I noticed you two are together a lot. Have you ever thought of going out?"

"No, I have not. We are friends, but nothing more." Rei replied in the emotionless whisper. Though she seemed to look surprised at her own reaction

_Curses, give me a straight answer!_

"But why do you ask?" asked Rei.

"Well, I asked Shinji the same question once (well, sort of) and he didn't give me a very good answer. You do like him, don't you?"

"…This…does not concern you."

"Hey, Asuka, Rei, let's play Marco Polo." Called Hikari. She was waving at them from the other side of the pool

"Yeah sure, wait for me." And Asuka ran off, with Rei standing there reflecting on the recent conversation.

"Rei! Are you coming?"

Rei, her thoughts interrupted, quickly turned around and replied softly, "No, thanks anyways."

Hikari shot a glance at Asuka, who shrugged.

* * *

It looked like two groups of armored angels facing off, with weapons armed and cocked. 

"Rebel forces, disarm and unshield and we will spare your lives. Do not force us to destroy you." The SEELE MCV's were sending transmissions asking for the complete and unconditional surrender of the Dragon Vanguard forces (name of Tai's section in the GLA).

Tai immediately called back through his communicator, "My ass! If you want us, come and get us!" _Who the hell gave them a MCV!!!! Who stole our plans!!!!!_

The SEELE forces quickly responded by charging up their weapons. The Vanguard did likewise. Suddenly, the Vanguard forces split apart into two groups, and flew backwards. Tai was barking commands into his communicator inside of his cockpit. Matt, commanding the other group, also did the same. The SEELE MCV's opened up with a barrage of Hellfire missiles, which spiraled towards the Vanguard MCV's…and were met by open air. The Vanguard forces had suddenly and mysteriously evaporated into thin air, leaving the confused SEELE forces looking around at each other.

Suddenly, several of the rear SEELE MCV's exploded as a wave of heated metal and lasers smashed into them. "HOLY SHIT!!!!!" screamed a SEELE pilot as whipped around his MCV to see the Vanguard forces again repeat their magic trick, this time by reappearing.

* * *

Colonel Jack Harps of the SEELE Air and Space Defense Force, was desperately trying to figure out what had happened in the past five seconds. One moment, his enemies, the Vanguard MCV's, had been sitting right in front of them, the next second, the Vanguard forces had reappeared behind them and unleashed a salvo of missiles, taking out his rear guard. His T34-3000 MCV whirled around and swung his PX2 Gauss Rifle to target a unusually large angelic MCV in the center of the Vanguard line. _That is one huge Mech…_

He held down the trigger and heard the familiar whine of the gun, declaring the launching a titanium-tipped slug at the MCV. _Pity I have to destroy such a beautiful mech'_, he thought, his eyes looking at the streamlined edges of the MCV's battle armor. But then his eyes widened when he saw the suit react with lightning speed, turning into a blur, whipping outa long katana and _deflecting_ the silvery bolt. No, he thought, his eyes had to be deceiving him.

No human pilot could react with such speed, nor could any mobile suit actually deflect a blast of pure energy. Looking back at the MCV, he saw that it had disappeared. Suddenly, a shadow appeared over him. Jack looked up, and was met with astream of autocannon shellsstabbing down on top on him. He only managed a scream as he evaporated into a white, expanding explosion.

* * *

As the SEELE forces reeled around in disarray to confront the appearance of the Vanguard forces, another wave of metal and fire collided with the first-turned-last wave of SEELE MCV's, throwing the whole of them into utter chaos. 

The Vanguard forces had outmaneuvered them again, with the help of a recently invented cloaking device. Tai's G-suit, which resembled an armored angel with its wings, had wielded two heavy Blitzkrieg Auto-Shotguns, which Tai used with lethal efficiency, each blast disabling or blowing away a target. Seeing a flicker of movement to his right, he swung around, bringing his guns up to bear.

The SEELE pilot was apparently extremely dense or too headstrong for his own good, for he with was charging towards Tai launching missile after missile in quick succession from his MCV's missile racks. Tai smiled and just hovered there. The missiles, fired in haste with no skill whatsoever, either went too far right or above Tai's G-suit. Tai merely knocked away the last one. The SEELE pilot, furious at missing all of his shots, pulled outa progressiveswordand soared up into the sun. He then plunged down at Tai's mobile suit with thevibrating blade whirling over his head.

Tai calmly unsheathed his sword and pointed the keen end at the charging MCV. The foolhardy pilot's MCV was almost immediately impaled on the blade due to his momentum. Remembering the massacre at NERV, he coldly jerked the blade upward, nearly splitting the MCV in half and sending it to join its comrades in a watery grave.

Later, with his ammunition spent, Tai put away his shotguns and drew a second katana from his back. He darted into the mass of SEELE forces slashing and hacking away. By then, the SEELE forces had been heavily decimated._ Of course, it was the first two salvos that had caught them off guard and destroyed many of them_, Tai thought, parrying blows from three MCV's at once, and using a technique from the Neo-Mitsurugi Form (Which he studied in his spare time) which. In another slash, the three opposing MCV's were headed for a watery grave at the bottom of the ocean.

Suddenly, all of the lights in Tai's cockpit turned red, and he saw the reason on the console in front of him. Rolling in midair sharply to the right, he saw a flight of rockets pass through the patch of air where he just was. Looking down, he saw that the SEELE fleet had arrived, along with the two colossal Battle Cruisers. Again, the red lights in his cockpit came to life when every single one of the weapon turrets on one of the Battle Cruisers swiveled to face him.

Tai barely had time to stow away his swords and pull out from behind him a Shield, when he was pummeled and blasted backwards by dozens of Pulse lasers and missiles, then hammered by the Battle cruiser's Heavy Naval Autocannons. _Crap!_His G-suit's now shredded shield fell in apart and plummeted into the ocean. Still being fired upon, Tai weaved his mobile suit through streams of autocannon shells and missiles.

Several shells peppered his G-suit, climbing up its leg. Fuming, Tai fired his thrusters and streaked towards the mammoth ship as explosion around him rocked his suit. Drawing out a sword, he blasted his thrusters and skimmed over the top of the aerial fortress, dragging his sword over the top of the ship, carving a huge slash across its top. _This is why the current capital ships are useless!_

Explosions erupted on the Battlecruiser as Tai made another long slash across the stern of the ship. He then drew out his cannons and fired threesuccessiveburstsat the bridge of the ship, igniting the prow with explosion and flame. Anotherround and the repulsor lifts under the ship blew up. The flaming ship was now tilting forward and dropping altitude. His work done, Tai headed right back into the melee.

* * *

Major Kairi Megumi flew around the battlefield, striking quick and hard at any unfortunate SEELE MCV in her way. Spinning hercrescent pole-bladearound like a fan, she sliced through several enemy MCVs at once. _Wonder what Mother would say if she found out what my real job was…heh, I told her that I was a surgical doctor in the US. Huh, a seventeen year-old in a section of a worldwide international rebel faction group at war with the international government SEELE. Oh well, she'd probably think I was joking…_

She winced as a rocket exploded next to her. She called into her communicator.

"Alpha squadron, report in!"

"Alpha 1 here"

"Alpha 2 disabled but alive."

"Alpha 4"

"Alpha 6 damaged but combat-fit"

"Alpha 7 here"

"Alpha 10 disabled but alive."

She cried out in shock, "WHAT!!"

Her unit quickly took alarm to their leader's scream and swiftly called in again, asking if she needed assistance.

"No…I'm fine, look sharp, we're outnumbered 3 to 1."

"Major, Alpha 5 is alive but he had to pull out and eject. He's somewhere in the ocean below us."

_Oh no…I've already lost half my unit!_

Suddenly, an MCV loomed in front of her, its beam sword slashing down on her.

She shut her eyes as the blow came down, but it never landed.

"Tsk Tsk, Kairi, it won't help your squadron if their leader is taken out this early."

Sai Kurama had appeared on a holoscreen, which projected out of her panel of controls. His G-suit, the _Fire Knight_, had skewered the SEELE MCV on its exceptionally longspear. Kairi breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her face with the sleeve of her jumpsuit.

"Thanks…again."

He smiled, "No problem, just watch yourself, don't lose yourself in the battle too much until you've honed your skills."

Sai and Kairi, though they came from different families, were literally like brother and sister. Sai, 27, took on the role of Kairi's older brother and mentor, which she never had, training her to pilot the G-suits and also as a GLA operative. She looked up to him with the outmost respect and enjoyed having him acting the part of an older brother, as in her family, she had been the only child, and quite lonely. Sai had been the one to get Kairi to join in the first place after they met at a medical school in the northeastern US.

"Come on, let's go, before some lucky bloke gets a lucky shot off and blows us to kingdom come."

"Right behind you!"

The two jetted off as explosions erupted around them.

* * *

The battle on the island wasn't faring so well for the Vanguard though. The well-equipped SEELE assault force had landed on two beachheads and were driving towards the heart of the island. The SEELE Mech force had much more combat experience than the few Mech squads which defended the island. Fortunately, once the SEELE forces had moved into the forests, they had to deal with hidden traps, weapon emplacements, as well as the Vanguard Mech force as well. 

Takeda watched as several screen depicted images sent in by hidden cameras in the forest. He watched as a lance of SEELE Mech touched off several motion sensor mines, which exploded, setting the Mech's on fire. Another screen showed a firefight in which the Vanguard Mechs and the SEELE Mechs were shooting from the protection of large trees and rock formations. But they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned 2 to one. Soon the SEELE Mechs were the last standing. But when they proceeded to walk into a growth of dense bushes, several of them fell into an expansive pit hidden by the bushes. Explosions rocked the earthen pit as several tons of explosives erupted, wiping out the SEELE unit and avenging the Vanguard ones.

Takeda closed his eyes and sighed,_ This will be a costly battle…we'll be fortunate to come out of this one alive, much less victorious…SEELE surely hasn't been idle in reassuming position as the world government…nor gathering military forces...if they had this much firepower...then why did they use only the Evangelions...? Obviously they had something else on their mind..._

He called out, "Report in. I want the number of casualties displayed on Main screen now."

The whole command center watched as numbers scrolled down the massive screen at the front of the room. Takeda's spirit fell as he watching the ever-rising numbers of fatalities for the Vanguard.

_At this rate, there will be no more Dragon Vanguard. The GLA command wing will not be pleased…_

End Chp. 2

curtains close. Audience cheers, applause along with catcalls and jeers

Misato walks on stage along with Kaji, botjh are heavily bandaged.

Misato: hello people!!! I'm really sorry about last time...I just kinda got carried away...with the excitement of the release!!

Kaji: Yeah...don't worry, she's on probation right now, so she won't go crazy on you again...or me on that note **cough**

Tai walks in

Tai: Hello people. I'm sorry, but FireDragonBL is sick and will not be able to join us today...he is sick. I just got a call this mornig from him.

-meanwhile, in Boston, MA, at a nightclub

* * *

"YEEEE HAAAAAWWWW!!!! THIS IS DA REAL AFTERPARTY!!!!" 

"GOING STREAKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE'RE GOING STREAKING !!!!!!!!"

sorry, but for the sake of all you viewers with heart and mental problems, we're not going to visually describe the scenes of chaos...I'm pretty sure you can do that yourselves. The writer's partying methods tend to be pretty extreme.

BL and friends are raising hell in Boston. Definitely drunk to the bone. Disturbing private property and going against all written and unwritten rules of ettiquete and decency, they are partying hard after long hours of working on the NGE script.

* * *

-back to the theater 

Kaji: Yes let's all take a moment of silence in honor of his hard work...

room is silent

-in the Boston Museum of Science

* * *

"HEY GUYS!!! CHECK IT OUT...IT'S URANUS!!!!" 

"WOW IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE URANUS!!!!"

"HEY HEY...IS THAT YOUR MOM?"

"I'm sorry sirs, but if you do not keep quiet we will have to-"

"RIOT!!!!!"

"HAHAHAHA!!! LEARN TO PH34R M4 M4D SKILLZ!!!"

"Someone please call the police..."

* * *

-back at the theater 

Misato: Okay silence is up.

Tai: okay, so today's subject is...uh...what did we decide on again?

Kaji: Uh...firearm safety? or was it underage drinking or something? Or the effects of alcohol on certain personas?

Kaji grins at Misato, who proceeds to throw him off the stage. Fortunately for Kaji, he is caught by a group of fangirls. Unfortunately, they drag him outside.

Kaji: ARGH!!! NOOOOO HELP MEEEE!!! TAIIII!!!!!

Tai stands there dumbfounded. He slowly looks at Misato, who smiles back at him.

Tai: Urk!

Shinji walks out from behind the curtain, followed by Rei, Toji, Kensuke,and Asuka

Asuka: BAKA! Where'd Hikari go?

Shinji: Uh...

Rei: I believe she said she required use of the facilities...

Tai: Oh why hello.

Misato: Shinji...Asuka...did you do your homework yet?

S & A: yes ma'am.

Misato: good

She smiles at them.

Tai: ...Yeah...okay we'll talk about firearm safety...first off...make sure you pick a weapon to your liking...never use something you don't trust...for example...if you like pistols, and someone hands you a rocket launcher (looks at Misato) would you shoot it?

Misato: of course!

Tai: ...

Shinji: Um, Misato? Why are we talking about guns? i thought we were suppsoed to be answering questions about the show...

Misato: We are Shin-chan, due to Tai's obssession with guns, we're going to talk about them,

Tai coughs loudly. Hikari appears.

Hikari: Asuka, i can't find the bathroom.

Tai: I think Misato blew it up last time.

Hikari: Oh...that explains all the debris near the dressing rooms.

Maya appears from behind the curtains.

Maya: Er...Tai? Someone blew up the bathroom, along with my locker...

Tai: What? Oh er...I'll...uh...go back there with you...and try to find what's left of your locker...yeah...uh Misato take over?

Misato: No problem! (She grins mischievously)

Tai: k...(he frowns)

Taiguides Maya off the stage. Ritsuko enters from opposite side.

Ritsuko: Misato, did you get drunk again?

Asuka coughs loudly. Toji randomly pulls out a soda and starts drinking

Misato: What? Me? of course not...why?

Ritsuko: Someone blew up my changing room along with my laptop...and there's a closet open in the back filled with weapons...not to mention several dozenempty bottles of...I think it was called "Bud-wizard" or something...ring a bell?

audience laughs.

Misato turns red

Misato: Of course not!

Ritsuko studies Misato for a moment, and then walks off stage. Misato turns back to the audience and procures a microphone.

Misato: okay we'll skip the guns and instead introduce some new members to the NGE cast!

Ritsuko walks back on stage.

Ritsuko: Just so you know, everyone else has left except for you and the kids. Tai and Maya left as well. Together I might add.

Ritsuko waves to the audience as she exits.

-back on the furiousstreets ofBoston

* * *

"HAHAHA TRY AND CATCH US!!!!"

"YOU COPS ARE SO SLOW!!!! MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE THE DRIVERS TEST AGAIN!!! HAHAHA"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!! WE'RE GOING STREAKING!!!!!!"

"HEY LOOK! THEY'VE GOT HELICOPTERS!!"

"HEY RICK GET THE RPG!!!"

"ITS BLACKHAWK DOWN!!!!!"

"HOGAN GRAB THE WHEEL!!! I'M GOING UP!!!!"

"HAHAHA J00 MU57 L34RN D4 M34NING0F PH34R!!!!!"

"EVANGELION FOREVEEEERRR!!!!"

"AIIIIIEEEEE HOGAN WATCH OUT FOR THAT—"

"DON'T WORRY I'M ALL PRO!!!!"

* * *

-meanwhile...at some sushi bar in Tokyo

Tai and Maya are eating out for the first time...suddenly, Tai's cellphone rings...

Tai: Hello dammit im busy.

other line.

Matt: Uh sorry...Tai? We've got an emergency...BL, Rick, Hogan, Shaun, and some other went for a boy's night out back in the states...Boston, MA to be exact

Tai bites his lip.

Tai: I see...I'll be there in half an hour.

Matt: Let me guess...you stole the jet again didn't you?

Tai: **cough **of course not...no i did not take the jet.

Tai cuts the line and pockets the cellphone.

Maya: What's wrong?

Tai: Uh...we're having some technical difficulties...wanna go the US?

Maya: Um...sure...

Tai: good we're leaving now.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out what looks likea pager. He taps in a series of codes. About five seconds later and huge thump outside catches everyones' attention. A pair of huge, armor-plated feet are right outside the sushi bar's windows

Tai: There's our ride

Maya: Is that the_ Blue Lancer_?

Tai: Uh...yeah. Come on.

end after-the-show 2


	3. Chp 3 Turning of the Tide

Yes chapter 3 here…more battle…more often…all the while the Children are raising hell in Tokyo. R&R pls. yes...seems a bit early for a large battle in the story...but technically, the plot hasn't even started to unravel, so don't worry...definitely not short...

Chp. 3 Turning of the Tide

Back at central command, Takeda and Kaji were watching the battle unfold.

"Heh heh. You owe me another twenty bucks." chuckled Kaji, as they watched Tai's _Lancer_ blow through two MCV's with one blast of his now recharged cannons.

"He is just amazing. All the other commanders were also quite speechless after watching his...spectacular performances. Heck, I bet you another twenty that you can't name all the colleges that he's graduated from."

"I bet I won't be able to pronounce one of them. I know that he graduated from Harvard Medical School, Oxford, Sarahishiki which me, Tai, Misato, and Akagi went to, and he probably also graduated from some German university which I can't pronounce."

"I can't pronounce the German university either." Admitted Takeda. "But he somehow graduated from all of them within five years. Well, technically, he didn't graduate, actually he transferred from one to another, but he had completed the majority of the courses which he took."

"So he really did graduate from Sarahishiki in two years, and then faked his death right before graduation day… tell me, is Tai supposed to be human?"

On screen, Tai slashed apart several more MCV's. _I don't know why the hell we don't just send him to take out the base…_

Takeda, still watching the screen, said, "Well, of course he's human. Just your average person, really. Average person who can shoot a stone from five hundred paces, pilot a G-suit, make 15 miles in an hour on foot, and catch the of every female in a room…accidentally on that note." Takeda grinned, "Not to mention, became the division commander of the elite unit of an international rebel organization at the age of 24. And I haven't even mentioned his exploits as part of a GLA operatives group."

Kaji grinned and added, "(He's been in the GLA for over six years now!?) Heh, you should've seen him at the first college prom at Sarahishiki. Before that as well. He got ambushed about six times a day by the girls for about a week, beforehand. I was ambushed several times as well…of course they stopped after I made a public announcement that I was going with Katsuragi. Forgot who he went with…no, actually, I don't think he went with anyone. And from what I know from past experience, he's not very good with girls. But then again, ten years can change a lot about a person…"

Takeda quickly turned away from the technicians, several of whom were laughing silently so hard that they seemed to be unable to do anything, and struggled to keep a straight face.

Juking his _Hellscythe_ sharply to the right, then to the left, Matt dodged the bulk of several waves of missiles fired blindly by a SEELE pilot. The ones that hit his G-suit splattered on the left arm, leaving a series of blackened spots on the scratched up but otherwise fine armor.

Only a direct from naval-class weapons or energy-based (aka lasers of some sort) could actually scratch the heavily armored mobile suit. It was plated with acryllium, a form of reforged diamond fused with titanium alloy properties. Matt then launched into a series of fluid movements that left his enemies confused and intimidated, allowing him to easily get closer to his targets for him to use his giant scythe.

Dodging streams of autocannon shells that would have otherwise hammered his plating, his _Hellscythe_ danced among the SEELE forces, wielding his lethal titanium scythe, which could slice through any known substance in a matter of milliseconds using vibro-tech. _This seems almost too easy, _thought Matt, _I know that our forces have better technology, well, usually, and are better trained, but I can't help but feel that there is something wrong. Could this be a diversion?_

Suddenly the lights in his cockpit flared red, and not a moment sooner, his G-suit was rocked by a series of explosions. Another flight of missiles struck him from behind, disintegrating part of his wings and nearly throwing Matt out of his seat. He bashed his head against something as he tried to see what was going on.

"Curse it!" Matt swung his G-suit around and launched three flights of mini-missiles in an arc in the direction of his assailant. The SEELE pilot who was foolhardy enough to attack Matt from behind was hit by twelve of the eighteen mini-missiles; two to the right arm, three to the chest, and seven blew through the left arm of the unlucky MCV, severing completely.

The pilot, in a panic, turned to escape, but Matt swiftly raised his _Deathscythe_'s left arm and fired a heat-seeking sonic torpedo which sailed straight at the fleeing MCV, smashed into its back, exploded, and ruptured the systems inside. Matt, feeling a sudden pain on his head, instinctively put his hand to the spot. He felt something wet and on withdrawing his hand, he saw that it was bloody. _Oh boy, this could suck… _

About a hundred miles east of Matt and Tai's battle, The Vanguard superiority fighters faced off against their SEELE counterparts. The difference between this battle and the other, was that it was not evenly matched. The SEELE fighters had superior engines, Ferro-fibrous armor, and more powerful weapons.

The battle seen from a distance would look like a laser show with fireworks. There were PPC's (Particle Projection Cannon) and pulse lasers flying across the sky, leaving wrecked plates of armor flying around. The thing that kept the Vanguard forces from being completely annihilated was their overall superior skills and training, along with their ever-helpful cloaking device, which allowed them to disappear from sight at will for short amounts of time. Also, their weapons were more accurate and had a farther range than their SEELE counterparts, though each individual ship was not as heavily armed. Yet as the battle dragged on, the heavily outnumbered and outgunned Vanguard began to take casualties.

The 9th Steel Storm command unit, being led by Lieutenant General Hogan, had already taken 30 casualties, while the 6th and 10th Air Calvary, the main fighter units of the Vanguard, were down to 80 of their original force. Apparently, the more SEELE units destroyed, the more that came to take their place.

Hogan, threw his fighter (like most of the Vanguard leaders, they had their own personalized fighting machine and a command unit), a heavily modified _Scytha_-class FX-02 AeroHawk, into a rapid spin to the right to avoid streams of autocannons and PPC's. From on either side, his wing mates, Rob McShay (King's Man 01) and Hyuki Akari (King's Man 02), spun with him and returned fire from their own_ Scytha_-class fighters with Ultra autocannons and PPC's. "King's Man 01 and 02, lets turn and blow that idiotically-large concentration of bogies at 5'O clock at 26 meters lower to kingdom come!"

"Roger." Came the two replies.

Their three-man formation suddenly pulled up and spun around, heading towards the enemy concentration of fighters. _I'd think that under all that techno crap they'd be smart enough to armor their rear ends_. They would hit them from behind, taking the majority of them if they didn't react fast enough. Hogan called into his intercom, "Okay boys, tie all your weapons systems to the same inter-lock circuit, 'cus we are gonna blow a hole right through them. After we come through, I want us to all break away, for the surviving retards will try to return the favor."

"Okay, commence fire." All at once, the three birds-of-war let loose their lethal cargo, a fury of PPC's, Pulse laser, autocannons, and in Hogan's case, mini-rockets. They made the air in front of them sparkle and light up with all the weapons fire. Hogan whooped through his intercom as he released wave after wave of min-rockets, which in waves streamed towards their designated targets, leaving plume of exhaust and smoke in their wake.

Since the backs of the SEELE fighters had almost no armor, the barrage would take out most of them, if not all. The PPC's and autocannons hit first, almost simultaneously, taking out four of the rear fighters and causing the other to almost quake in their flight as the exploding shells tore off sections of armor plating. Then Hogan's mini-rockets followed, ramming into the thrusters of the remaining fighters, causing internal explosions, which ruptured the whole aircraft. Laughing as they flew over the burning wreckage, currently on its way to the bottom of the ocean, "God, they are so pathetic." Laughed Rob, wiggling his wings

"We took out all of them in one pass. That was at least a dozen planes we shot down."

Calculated Akari, "That was a nice shot."

"Okay, Steel Storm, form up, we going to cover the retreat back to base."

"What," cried Rob incredulously, "We're kicking their asses!"

"And taking casualties in the process," countered Hogan, "We don't have the same unlimited resources as SEELE. Lest you forget, we're the rebel faction here. And anyways, check your sensor reading and radar, what do they tell you?"

Akari, being the fast one, had already checked them and calmly replied, "There is another air armada approaching our position. There is one _Mammoth_-class Battlecriser, along with another fleet of SEELE aircraft and MCV's."

_This is all too easy, _thought Takeda, _SEELE can't be this weak. It has to be some sort of diversion…_

Breaking his chain of thought, one of the technicians looked up from his radar read out and yelled, "Second SEELE air armada approaching from west. Shall I order the retreat? Commander…?" Takeda rested his chin on his hand, thinking, _well, it's about time…_

"Yes, ask General Hogan to call the retreat."

"Message sent, sir"

Hogan had called the retreat, and now, there was a stream of aircraft heading back to Vanguard HQ. His Steel Storm unit was holding off the enemy, giving time fro the rest of his command to escape. After the last of the stragglers had gotten some distance, he called for his unit to retreat as well, at least, what was left of it. The large air armada continued its path to the Vanguard base undaunted, like a giant swarm of hungry insects, closing in on their prey. Hogan took one last look at the huge group and thought, _this may be the end of us,_ then he turned and hit his thrusters, shooting back towards the Vanguard HQ.

The air around him seemed to turn blood red and cackle with lightning as hundreds of laser beams and PPCs flew around him, slamming into his unit, blowing one MCV after another after another out of the sky. Some of the crimson beams found their mark, tracing their way up his G-unit, yet only succeeding at making the paint job hiss and bubble. On the other hand, the PPC's that hit home on the _Blue Lancer_ began leaving blackened plates of the acryllium armor, sending blue electrical lightning jumping around Tai's Gear Fighter.

The blasts of PPC's jolted Tai in his cockpit, and would've sent him flying if he didn't have two seat belts crisscrossed across his chest. In defiance, Tai tied all of his weapons systems to the same targeting computer and trigger, and pulled it. His G-suit immediately released its own laser show as it launched two shotguns style slugs and blasted two streams of autocannon shells into the Battle Cruiser nearest to him. Looking on his radar, he saw that most of the SEELE MCV's had been destroyed, so he called into his intercom,

"All units target the capital ships."

_There is something…hovering right above us…something spelling doom…. I just can't place it…,_thought Tai. He then immediately thought of something. But before he could speak into his communicator, an urgent voice came out of it yelling, "Sir, the Evangelions have appeared!"

Tai looked up and saw on his front screen and saw three larger than Gear Fighter-sized humanoids figures with wings approaching them. They seemed to be wielding rather sinister looking blades. _Oh joy…the big boys are here_, he thought.

He proceeded to yell, "All units, retreat! I repeat, retreat back to base! Matt, Kurama, Li-chan, and Kairi, you're all with me! We need to take out the Evangelions!"

All around them, Vanguard forces disappeared into thin air as they turned on their cloaking shields. The pitiful remnants of the SEELE MCV's turned tail and retreated as well, parting to give room for the Evangelions as well.

"Actually, belay that last order, back to base with all of you. I need to test something."

"But-"

"No' buts'; this is a direct order."

The rest of the Gear Fighter pilots reluctantly returned to base, flying backwards to see what Tai would do.

Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, now all lived in Misato's condo, which surprisingly had not been claimed by the bank when they had not payed the rent for nearly two weeks. Asuka and Shinji had invited Rei to live at the condo the day after the fall of NERV. Actually, it was mostly Asuka.

"Your apartment doesn't have a lock, and there is no NERV security any more. Not to mention, the neighborhood your apartment is in is full of gangsters and hoodlums."

Rei, surprisingly, accepted the invitation. Asuka, who apparently was regaining her old personality back (a little too quick for Shinji though), had somehow convinced Rei to share a bunk with Shinji by saying that she had too much stuff in her room, while Pen-Pen would not have liked Rei taking Misato's room, and that they should leave Misato's room like it was in remembrance of her. Rei didn't seem to accept Asuka's lame excuse, but accepted anyways for her own reasons.

Shinji nearly fainted when Asuka informed him that Rei would be sleeping in the same bunk bed. Rei, as usual, did not mind at all having to share a room with a boy.

"Gash, gah, gah…"

"Oh come on Shinji, you and the First are a perfect match, so it's not that bad," said

Asuka, fighting the urge to laugh. "Anyways, you do like her, right?"

"How can anyone be so cruel," whined Shinji. He fell on his knees in despair.

"Well, I can switch rooms with you, only if you agree to two conditions; one, you ask Rei out on a date, and two, you at least attempt to kiss her." She was leaning on the walls, her face showing the strain of trying not to laugh.

"WHAT KIND OF SICK, DISGUSTING MONSTER ARE YOU!!!?" yelled Shinji,

"DO YOU ONLY TAKE DELIGHT IN THE MISERY OF OTHERS!!!!!?"

"Oh come now, Shinji, you'll thank me for this in the future." She picked herself off the ground and regained her posture, "Either way, you'll gain valuable experience about how to deal with girls, not to mention learn how a girl thinks. Of course, that's only if you're very perceptive. But don't worry, I believe in you." And with that she smirked at Shinji and left the room. He then heard Asuka burst out laughing somewhere in the living room. _I'll get you for this!_

_Maybe I should see if I could sleep over at Kensuke's house, _thought Shinji. He knew that he would have to prepare for the worst. When he was forced to stay with Asuka, she had nearly given him a heart attack in the first few hours by pretending to flash him. He would not forget that for a while. Then Shinji thought, _or maybe I could sleep on the living room couch and let Rei sleep on the bed…yeah…I'll do that… _

Hundreds of miles away, there was another person making another tough decision. This person was sitting in the cockpit of a heavily modified custom G-suit XF-91, complete with customized twin Blitzkrieg Auto-Shotguns and two heavy Raigeiki Ultra autocannons (You know those big guns on a battleship? The shells it shoots have the same power as this, except it's got the firing rate of a machine gun); a rather ominous sight for enemies of the Vanguard.

Tai Kotone was deciding whether or not to go on the offensive or not. He was looking through his computer database for the analysis of the Evangelions 05-13. He couldn't find much, except that they were not piloted by a person, but the cloned mind of some girl they referred to as the "First Child". He'd have to look her up later when he hacked into the SEELE database again. He pushed away the keyboard.

_Peculiar, they had Evangelions 00-04 piloted by people without many problems, wonder why they decided to switch to CP's. _Tai tensed his muscles as the Evangelions began circling around him.

Chairman Kriel sat in his seat watching the events unfold. In the darkened room, the rest of SEELE had convened

"So, that naïve pilot thinks he can take on 3 units by himself…Well, we must teach him a lesson in humility. Sadly he won't be able to correct his mistake…Commence the attack!"

"But Kriel, I believe that's the _Blue Lancer_, one of their secret projects, called the "Gear Fighters"; they have considerable power, made to combat our EVA units, and this one in particular is being piloted by their most skilled pilot. The "Gear Fighters" are far larger than the MCV's they use, with much more armor and weaponry. What's more, there are rumors that they have perfected the nuclear engines, which will function as well as the S2 engines for the Evas, and some sort of generator that copies the AT fields, thereby canceling them out. We may take casualties, you understand?"

"Hmmm…then perhaps the Evangelions should wait and see what happens, but not engage."

"Of course."

_Gear Fighters…an interesting idea…similar to the Evas, but completely inorganic…a super mechanical combat suit basically… _

_Very interesting…this battle shall provide much data for both the Evas and on the opposition…_

Meanwhile, Shinji was pacing around in his room brainstorming hopeless ideas. He thought back to when Misato had him and Asuka live together for five days. He was wondering he could do the same with Rei.

_Maybe I'll try for one day and see what happens. I guess it won't be that bad, at least she's slightly more sociable now...I think…damn…gotta stop drinking caffeine-enriched water…_

Then the doorbell rang, "Ding-dong…Ding-dong"

"I'll get it!" called Shinji. He ran to the door and opened the door. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he saw the shadowed figure of a boy slightly larger than himself. "Um, can I help you?", he said blinking.

WHUUNNKKK!!!!!!! The leg of a metal stilt slammed on top of his head, sending stars flying across his eyes. "Ow!" Shinji gripped his head, trying to sort out what had just happened.

"What da ya mean 'help me', you dumbass!!"

_That voice…sounds familiar…_

"I'm talkin' to you SHINJI!! I didn't come here for no reason ya know."

………_blank mind…………_

"Hello, this is your friend in need, Toji."

Shinji blinked stupidly, with a look of dawning apprehension on his face. Apparently, he was still struggling to input this piece of information.

"Well, its been a while. Why din' ya come and see me, even 'ikari, 'da class rep came and saw me." Said Toji, chugging a soda. He reclined on the sofa and belched loudly.

"I thought you were dead! At least that's what they told me." Shinji blabbered out. "Wait a sec, did you say that Hikari visited you."

"Ya, an' we had a rather interesting conversation." He paused, "By the way, I heard that Ayanami's also moved 'n with ya. If thats so, den you are da luckiest bastard on da planet…or at least in this side 'o Tokyo…living with da three best lookin' girls in da city. One more thing, I heard from Hikari, who heard from Asuka, that Ayanami's stayin' in da same room as you…heh heh, Ikari ya wily old fox…wished it coulda been me…"

"WHAT!!" shouted Shinji standing up, and spilling his soda in the process. He quickly ripped some tissues out of the nearby box and attempted to soak up the spilt soda. Unfortunately, the soda had stained the couch fabric. _Damn!_

"Ah, so she is gonna to stay in ya room."

"No, not that! I mean, anyways, you didn't hear about what had happened a couple days ago!!??"

"Whaddaya mean?"

Shinji sat down and put his head in his hands.

"Unhh, how should I say this…Okay then. A couple days ago, about a week to be exact, while you were probably still in the NERV hospital a couple miles away, SEELE attempted to takeover NERV to control the Evangelion and bring about the Third Impact. First, they attempted to hack into the NERV database and take control of our computers. My fa—I mean, Commander Ikari, had Akagi counter this. SEELE then, from what I know, tried to takeover NERV HQ by force. They killed everyone. It was a massacre. They sent in some kind of death squad after they bombed us. It was like hell. Everyone was running around and screaming…" he paused as he thought back to that fateful day

"I guess you should know the full story….."—

He proceeded to recount the SEELE attack on NERV

"WHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MISATO's DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!?????????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH"

Toji screamed clutching his head. _No_, he thought_, this couldn't have happened while he was away._ _Damn it!!!!!!!!!!!_

"So even Akagi, Kouzou, and everyone else are dead…?"

"Yes…"

Suddenly, the doors slammed open against the wall, making them jump up from their seats again.

A girl's voice, punctuated by heavy panting, called out from the direction of the doorway,

"Hey, pant Shinji, I've got **pant pant**, some news for ya'," Asuka entered the living room, shortly followed by Rei, who strangely wasn't panting, but had the same calm, masked expression everyone was used to.

Asuka, having sat down to catch her breath, stared at Toji breathlessly, while Toji, stared back, but was leaning away with a scared expression on his face. "So you really are alive…" breathed Asuka.

"Yah, so? What's it to ya'."

"Hikari kept on telling me that she kept on visiting you, and I thought she meant your grave, but I noticed that she seemed happy, which scared me at first, but then she mentioned that you weren't going to be out of the hospital for a while, which meant that you were…alive." She then snapped out of the stupor she was in and added, "You scared us half to death, you know. Shinji actually quit being a pilot the day you _supposedly_ died, ya' know."

Toji then sighed and said, "Well I'm sorry, I mean I was unconscious throughout most 'a 'da day…"

Shinji quickly replied, "Don't worry about it, it's not your fault, it was my fault. If I had acted faster and pinned you, I mean, your Evangelion, down, I would have saved us all the trouble."

Rei, who had left the room at the beginning of the conversation, had come back with another can of soda for everyone. Shinji sneaked a look at her face, which, to his dismay, was again another mask of seriousness. _Darn, and she was just starting to open up. Hmmm…she was beginning to show her true personality…wonder what made her change back. Hey…maybe…living in the same room with her may not be such a bad idea…hmmmm…interesting idea…if I could learn as much about her as I did Asuka, then I guess it would be educational, as Asuka would put it, to be roommates…_

Toji quickly popped the question, casually asking, "So Rei, I hear that ya gonna be Shinji's roommate, eh?" Asuka suddenly became interested in her can of soda. Shinji choked and sprayed Toji with orange droplets.

Elsewhere on the planet, Tai was thinking. _Hmmm…why won't they attack?_ _Maybe SEELE is afraid of losing any of their precious Evangelions…Interesting…this gives me an idea…,_ Tai flicked on his intercom and talked quickly into it.

"Takeda, this is Tai here, commence Operation Prevention now!"

"What? But it's not scheduled for another two weeks! Kotone, you must reconsider."

"Isn't everything in place?"

"Yes but-"

"We need to stop SEELE production of Evangelions as fast as possible. You do understand do you? Even I, along with the other G-suit pilots, wouldn't be able to stop an attack force consisting of scores of those Evangelions. Well actually, we could, but not before they've destroyed most us."

"Yes, I understand. Ordering attack on SEELE Evangelion factory now. All units locked and loaded!"

"Good." Tai said. _Now it's time to reveal my secret project, _he thought, looking at the screen in front of him showing the Evangelions circling around them. He opened a small panel and tapped into the buttons pad a series of codes, which afterwards the panel flipped over to reveal a switch covered by a case painted with yellow and black cautionary colors. Tai, in one smooth motion, swiftly flipped open the case and flicked the switch with his left hand. A voice then filled the cockpit, "G-suit p-synchronization sequence activated. Please state name for voice confirmation."

"Taishi…Ayanami."

"Voice pattern accepted. Please lean back against headrest and grip the mental synchronization handles." Suddenly, a helmet covered Tai's head, and a visor shifted down in front of his eyes. The cockpit had also changed for the switch over from the manual control to mental synchronization, becoming not unlike the control capsules of Units 00-04.

The console had moved away, to be replaced by a pair of joystick like handles, which looked just like the "thought" handles on the human-piloted Evangelion series. The differences were that these handles would allow the consciousness of its user to directly pilot the mobile suit as if it was the user's own body, literally transferring one's mind into the A.I. engine for total and complete control of the mobile suit

A second later, Tai was testing out his newly found body by flexing the G-suits's fingers and throwing a couple of punches to test the control. _Good, the synch is perfect…the brain wave patterns are being directly transferred into the AI Battle Engine_. He then tested out his thrusters, streaking upward, _Interesting...so this is how a bird feels like_. Tai then whipped a katana, going into a few daily practice routines, he twirled around, while keeping a close eye on the ever-circling Evangelions.

"All systems okay…turn on A.T. Imitator…"

Misato awakened to alarms and a darkened room. Small, hollow booming sounds came from all around, suppressed because of the distance. She quickly got up and stretched, and feeling no pain (except for her still broken left arm), she looked at her wounds and lifted the bandages, to see that her wound had almost completely healed; she could barely make out the spot were the bullet had penetrated her body. Only then, fully awake and on her feet, did she then notice the amount of sophisticated-looking technology located in her room. There were several large machines, which were vibrating and produced a low humming sound. Wires sprawled all over the floor. She winced as she pulled out the IV needle from her arms. _Ow..._

Misato couldn't recognize some of the advanced electronics and machines from the last few times she had visited the NERV trauma unit. She'd have to make sure that she personally thanked Kaji's friend. She still wondered how Kaji would know anyone who owned such a well-equipped Intensive Care Unit. _Must be from his spy work._

She eyed the cabinet next to her bed; it had on top of it her NERV uniform, all cleaned and repaired, along with her wallet, handgun, and on top of the pile, a security card and memopad. Misato then quickly got dressed and walked out of the room examining the card. _Hmmmm…never heard of the Dragon Vanguard…no wait…I've heard of the before… Wait!!!! Aren't they some sort of terrorist group!!!? _

A couple thousand miles away, somewhere in southeastern Asia, several lances of Vanguard Battle AAS proceeded to stalk through the dense forest toward the hidden SEELE Evangelion facility. Lieutenant Commander Bren Storm gripped the controls of his _Thunder Hawk_ in quiet concentration.

Before they had deployed, he had carefully gone over the plan five times, just to make sure everyone knew what they were doing, for he knew that they had to maintain communications blackout (silence) until they had effectively engaged the SEELE forces guarding the factory.

AAS (Armored Assault Suits) were, as said before, the earlier cousins to the MCV's. Most of them were restricted to the ground, though some designs came equipped with repulsor lifts and jump jets. The reason they were still in use was because of the obvious fact that they tended to be more heavily armed and armored than the MCV's. Also, they were ideals for fighting on any kind of terrain, from forests to deserts.

Storm's _Thunder Hawk_ was a hundred-ton leviathan, equipped with racks of missile launchers and three lethally accurate gauss rifles, which shot out titanium slugs at hypersonic speeds. Even if the slug didn't penetrate a AAS's armor (they usually didn't just penetrate them, they took out whole sections of armored plating, and would a lot of times plow right through to the titanium bones), the force of the slug would, if it made a direct hit, would probably topple over the AAS if it was a medium sized or smaller design. On either side of him, two also hundred-ton AAS, the _Titan_s,tromped through the vegetation.

Storm was in control of one of the deadliest assault forces in the world. He had been given more than enough forces to takeover several small SEELE bases, a little more than fifty AAS, along with air support. The Vanguard had been training preparing for this assault for many months now. It had also taken months get approval from the GLA command wing. As his force began to near the SEELE factory, he began to think that something was wrong. _It's too quiet out here. We should have encountered some sort of defense line. But then again, maybe Commander Takeda already had his hackers disable all of the electronics here… _

In the silence of the room, everyone stared at Toji, who uncomfortably shifted in his seat.

"Ah, bad question…"

"Well, yes, I guess I am going to reside in Shinji's room." Said Rei, who then continued to sip at her drink. Asuka, then, embarrassed, looked at Shinji and shrugged her shoulder. Not seeing this, Shinji appeared to be in some kid of trance. Asuka, blushing colors, quickly broke the silence and said, "Well hey, why don't we all go down to the mall, I hear there are some new shops opening."

Shinji, still in the trance, slowly turned to face Asuka, and asked, "Exactly how many people did you tell…?"

"Ahhhh…Ummmm…let me think…um," she started counted her fingers, "Actually, I'm not quite sure." The phone rang at that moment, disrupting the conversation, which was getting quite ugly. Shinji jumped up and ran to the phone in the kitchen. He picked it up and spoke into the receiver, "Hello, this is the Katsuragi residence."

"Shinji, you censored for very offensive language #$, what the #$ do you think you're doing!!!!!!! Seriously, first you're living with Misato and Asuka, but now Ayanami's staying in your room!!!!!!!! What do you have to say for yourself!!?"

"Uhhh…hello Aida…who told you that…?"

"Asuka did."

"Oh…actually Asuka forced me into this. It was not my doing…I swear. I mean seriously, you would believe her over me?"

"Yes."

"I feel so trusted."

"You are welcome. So are you really sleeping with her? snicker."

"Kinda, but I'm probably going to give the bed an' sleep on the floor,. Or most likely the living room couch."

"Not what I meant...but anyways...you're so lucky. I'm coming over to confirm this and steal your math homework while at it. Okay? Good-bye."

"NO, KENSUKE WAIT!!!" But he heard the irritating click of Aida hanging up the phone.

Shinji grimly stalked back to the living room. "Okay, we have some unexpected company…Asuka, this company is because of you, so when he arrives, you are dealing with him yourself."

Misato was now walking around, rather lost, in the sparkling white hallways of the Vanguard HQ (of course, she didn't know where she was yet). _Damn, I hate these things, _she thought, playing around with the memopad, _why am I the only who ever gets lost?_ She continued trying to get the memopad to give her the information she wanted, but it was rather hopeless. She neared a corner while staring hard at the pad, hoping, pleading with it to show her a desperately needed map. As she turned the corner, she bumped into someone, who immediately gave her a hug and a kiss. Almost out of instinct she whipped her right hand up and slapped the person, who turned out to be none other than Kaji. "Oh-oh-ohmigod. Kaji I'm so sorry." She then accidentally dropped her pad.

Kaji, touching the place where he'd been slapped, smiled and said, "Don't worry about that, I should have known better than to give you a hug when you're paranoid," He paused to bend and pick up the pad.

"Kaji, what is this place?" she asked

"It's thebase of operationsof the Dragon Vanguard."

"Aren't they some kind of terrorist group."

"Now really Misato, if they were ordinary terrorists, would you be here right now?"

"What do you mean."

"You think that a terrorist group would have the skills and technology to break into NERV while it was under attack by SEELE, and rescue you and all of the survivors of NERV right under the nose of a elite SEELE assault squad? Not to mention, without all of the electronics and techno-crap you saw in the room, you would have died a while ago."

Misato then started twiddling around her index finger a length of her unusually clean hair, showing that she was hard at work (in thought). "I take it that this group has been fighting to bring down SEELE for a while now too?"

Kaji laughed, "That is correct. Based on what I heard, it's been involved with a sort of undeclared war with SEELE and the UN for half a century. Actually, the Vanguard is part of the GLA, which you probably don't know about. A long lost acquaintance of ours decided to help us out, tut, tut, a true friend in times of need like this is hard to come by. You know, the human race only cooperates to fight off other unworldly presences so that they can fight each other afterwards."

"Kaji, why do I get the feeling that you are hiding something from me?"

"What ever do you mean?" joked Kaji smugly.

Misato at this point was getting frustrated, "So, who is that 'friend'. I am _literally_ dying to meet him."

"Actually, that meeting could take a while. If you haven't noticed, there is some kind of war going all around us. But hey, I'll give you a tour of the place." He put his arm around her and started walking, guiding a fuming Misato through the halls.

Maya suddenly jumped awake due to a large "BOOM" which shook her room. A large crash next to her bed further brought her to her senses. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around the room.. She got up, found a stack of accessories similar to her NERV uniform; but instead, she found a different, strange uniform, apparently with a officer's jacket and handgun, which she examined warily before pick, along with the small circular object that Tai had left behind, and got dressed. She then, after examining the technology piled all around her spacious room, left the room, wondering whether or not her previous awakening to find Tai Kotone next to her. _Wait, didn't Tai get killed in a car accident or something, was that meeting a dream…no…it had to be real…it felt so real…and he left this thing…_

Rounding a corner, deep in thought, she bumped into two people and fell over

"Owww…sorry…I wasn't paying atten- Major Katsuragi!!!!"

Misato gasped and quickly pulled the younger girl to her feet.

"Major Katsuragi, I thought you were shot!?"

"I was, but," she pointed to Kaji, "a friend of this idiot apparently rescued all of us. And you can call me Misato from now on; I'm not exactly your commanding officer anymore, just a friend," she smiled," oh yeah, and nice uniform Maya."

"Oh this…" She blushed furiously. She was wearing a uniform with a black sweater and a officer's coat complete with insignia (though she had no idea what army had this insignia) and a black skirt, something similar to Misato's, but longer.

Kaji then said, "Well then, why don't I give both you beautiful ladies a tour of this majestic fortress. Oh yeah, we can also pick up Akagi along the way."

"Dr. Akagi's alive too?"

"Yes, barely, she says that Gendo had shot her."

"Oh…," she looked shocked, "well at least she's alive."

Ding-dong!! The doorbell rang, signaling Aida's arrival. "Okay, Toji, you lost your leg in a car accident, okay? And Asuka, this is your damnfault, so fix it!" called out Shinji as he ran to get the door. When he opened it, he quickly slammed it shut.

"ASSSSUUUUKKKAAAAAA!!!!!!!! HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU TELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????? REALLLY!!!!!!!!!!"

Everyone immediately thought (except Rei, who was thinking, _Is there something wrong with my staying here…?_), _This is not a good sign…this can never be a good sign._

Asuka quickly ran to the door and asked Shinji what was wrong. Shinji quickly told her that there were a group of kids from there school standing outside. Asuka then said that he should just say that that wasn't true. Shinji, after Asuka bolted back to the living room and shushed everyone, Shinji opened the door and said, "Um, sorry about that, may I help you?"

The girl in front of all of them (whom Shinji recognized was the girl who had asked him via instant messenger when he first came here whether or not he was the pilot of the "robot") answered, "Is it true, that Rei Ayanami is going to be staying in the same room as you?"

_Damn, what kind of crap did Asuka feed them this time?"_

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Asuka told us that you invited her to stay here and that you said that she could sleep in your room."

_Why Asuka? Why me…?_

"I don't know what she said, but yes, Ayanami is staying here, yes, she is staying in my room, but I'm sleeping in the living room. And it was Asuka who invited her."

With this, everyone in the small mob outside Misato's condo groaned in disappointment, "Awwwww…" then they all dispersed and left, except for the girl, who just stood there, staring curiously at Shinji, who tugged uncomfortably pulled at his collar.

"You're lying aren't you?"

"No, of course not." _I am such a bad liar._

"Oh," though she didn't seem to believe him, "Okay, see you at school then" and with that, she left.

Shinji closed the door and was storming back to the living room, when he heard the doorbell ring again. He strode to the door and angrily pulled it open, "What do you want! …Oh, Aida, thought you were someone else…"

Aida, pushing his glasses up, said (and ignored Shinji's comment), "So, are you really sleeping in the same room as Aya—? "

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

end Chp. 3

After the show 3!!

Curtains close, and the lights flick on. Kaji walks on stage, followed by Maya and Ritsuko. Kaji is heavily bandaged.

Kaji: Hello people. Again, FireDragonBL won't be able to make it, as he, along with some of the cast are being detained by some very angry Massachusetts state policemen.

Maya: And Tai is busy, trying to get them out.

Ritsuko: And Misato is currently chewing out Shinji and Asuka for failing their midterms. Toji and Kensuke are nowhere to be found…probably at the local arcade. And Hikari is sick…yeah…heck with it, we'll introduce what's left of the cast.

Takeda walks onto stage.

Takeda: Good evening. I am a new member of this cast, and as you can see, one of the older ones.

Random kid in audience: Hey, you know…you look a lot like Com. Fuyutsuki

Takeda smiles.

Takeda: That's because he's my brother! Don't worry he's not dead yet…just…lost and confused…My full name is Takeda Fuyutsuki.

Matt walks.

Matt: Hello, my name is Matt Ishimura—

FireDragonBL runs onto the stage.

BL: hey people I'm back!

Kaji: How…?

BL: I'm the writer remember? I found that I could do a lot of things with a flick of my wrist. I just made it so that I escaped the car crash with no injuries and that the police failed to arrest me.

Kaji: That's not fair…

BL: It could be. (he waves his arms)

A carton of beer appears!

BL: H4H4H4H4!!!! PH34R MY N33D PH0R 833R!!!!

Takeda: You're in high school…

BL: I can change that! (he waves his arms again)

An ID appears in his hand

BL: H4H4H4H4!!!! THIS ID STATES THAT 1 4M 18!!!!!!! PH33R M4 M4D SKILLZ!!!!

Kaji: Nice!! Can you make money as well?

BL: Nah my powers are limited from monetary terms by the federal banking union.

Matt: That sucks…why don't you make it so that the guys in union listen to you?

BL: Hmmm…that's a good idea…

Kaji: Can you make people change their views about one another?

Ritsuko coughs loudly.

BL: Uh…I don't know…I'll try that later…

End ATS 3

now respected readers...R&R !!!!! pls


	4. Chp 4 The False Truth

Lo people...yay...4th chapter here...dont know how the hell i found time to finish this...oh well...enjoy and R&R

Chp. 4 The False Truth

Storm warily examined the Factory's defense. He saw a group of patrols made up of heavy AAS and a countless number of turret weapons. The spherical factory looked even more formidable. It was like a huge glass globe, supported by hundred of meters-thick steel pillars. Multiple limbs branched out, connecting it to the other facilities around it. There was a small airstrip along the right end.

He looked to the side of him and saw all of his forces stringed out along the forest's edge, waiting for the signal to attack. He checked his electronic beeper, which the other commander of the assault force on the other side would signal him when he was ready to attack. He held his breath and gripped his controls. A second later, the beeper flashed red several time and emitted a shrill beeping sound. Storm flicked on his intercom, "All AAS units, take out the turrets on my mark…three…two…" He kept one eye on the radar, and the other eye on the blinking light. It stopped flashing and turned green. "FIRE!"

The clearing exploded with color and smoke as gun after gun discharged their lethal payloads. Streams of autocannon shells raked their way towards turrets, while missiles and rockets streaked towards their designated targets. Flashes of green, red, and blue filled the air as lasers, pulse lasers, and PPC's filled the air. The defense turrets defending the outer lines of the SEELE facilities were soon turned to slag.

"EVERYBODY LET'S GO!"

Immediately, like wave of metal monsters, his assault force charged out into the clearing, firing their weapons at specific targets, taking them out one by one. Storm spotted a camouflaged _Black Cougar _hidden under a clump of trees firing at his forces with its autocannons. He shifted his _Thunder Falcon_ and leveled his gauss rifles. With years of experience comes skill, and with great skill he fired all three of his gauss rifles, launching silvery hypersonic slugs travel towards his target.

The _Black Cougar_ pilot never knew what hit him, as the slugs plowed into his mid section, sending the black, medium weight AAS stumbling backwards. Storm finished the job with a wave of long-ranged missiles, which slammed into the AAS, blowing off its chest armor and landing it on its back. Suddenly, the clearing erupted in laser fire as dozens of SEELE gun emplacement popped up to meet the line of Vanguards invaders. Storm quickly shouted commands into his intercom, ordering the air units placed at his command to begin giving air support.

"WHERE'S OUR AIR SUPPORT?"

Suddenly, the hills in front of them opened up and out came streams of AAS.

"Everyone, concentrate your fire on the tunnel entrances. 8th Heavy Assault take out the AAS that come out."

Along the line, the Vanguard Forces concentrated their firepower on the hill entrances, causing them to cave in, crushing some of the SEELE AAS, but enough had come out to put up a strong defense. Hearing a "whoosh", Storm tilted his AAS upwards, but didn't see anything. But then the SEELE line of defense began crumbling under a furious storm of PPC's, autocannon, heat-guided bombs, missiles, and lasers, that seemed to appear from nowhere.

"Hello, Storm, you called for help?", a voice came from somewhere inside his cockpit. A holo-screen appeared a foot away from his head.

"Why yes I did, you really took your time comin' here didn't 'cha?"

"Heh heh, not really, but lets take out that factory first."

Then one by one, Vanguard aircraft began to appear in the air above them. The SEELE gun emplacements swiveled to track the fighters, but they were too speedy to hit. One by one, the emplacements began exploding under streams of PPC's and autocannon shells. Storm yelled to his units through the intercom, "Come on, we've got to take out that factory before they get reinforcements. Everyone, CHARGE!!!!"

Immediately, the Vanguard line, which had stopped to exchange fire with the SEELE Mechs, charged forward into the valley, toward the gargantuan Evangelion Factory. What ever remained of the SEELE AAS was quickly swallowed up by the unstoppable wave of Ferro-fibrous armor. Some of the Vanguard AAS actually slowed down to punch the standing SEELE AAS. Then a Vanguard _Werewolf_ disintegrated under a furious stream of PPC's turned into a burning pile of scrap. Storm roared, "MCV's!!! Take 'em out."

The wave of AAS slowed down and tilted upwards, and saw a large flotilla of MCV's firing at them. The AAS opened up with wave after wave of missiles, while the Vanguard fighters began making strafing run at the group. The MCV, extremely maneuverable, weren't taken down so easily. They immediately dispersed and started jetting around, throwing off the aim of the AAS. Roaring defiantly, Storm fired his gauss rifles again and again, each time, damaging a MCV. The MCV units noticed this and began to concentrate their fire at him.

Lasers and shells exploded on the ground around him. Sidestepping a stream of PPC's, Storm switched to his Ultra autocannons for a more rapid rate of fire. Leveling them at a MCV, which was firing at a Vanguard _Storm Crow_, he opened up, sending nearly-invisible streams of shells flying into the MCV, which seemed to disintegrate in the storm of exploding shrapnel, and imploding a second later, showering burnt and twisted metal on his AAS.

Ignoring the dangers of the battlefield. Storm twisted his AAS around, looking at the battle going on around him. He quickly saw that his assault force had taken many casualties. Many were caused by the deadly beam swords wielded by the high-flying MCV's. _Oh shit, _he thought as a MCV turned to face him.

It drew a beam sword and ignited it. Then it fired its thrusters and fly down at Storm's AAS. Storm raised both arms of his AAS and fired everything he had at the incoming threat. The pilot was good; he dodged everything Storm threw at him. The MCV raised the blade above his head and cut down, just as Storm quickly sidestepped his AAS and narrowly dodged the MCV.

Grinning triumphantly, Storm aimed his three gauss rifles and fired. The pilot never saw what hit him; the three silvery slugs had punctured the hover jets on the back and slammed the unlucky MCV into the ground, leaving a long furrow behind him.

_There's seven up yours!_

_

* * *

_

"So...have the rebels initiated their attack?"

"Yes sir! They have already breached the perimeter defenses and are several hundred yards from the outmost complex facility."

"Hmmm...they're better than I predicted...let them overrun the factory...we need only to make sure that none of them make it out alive...is the Ultima squadron prepped?"

"They're on standby...ready for the order."

"Have the reconnaissance team located the rebel drop site?"

"Yes, some twenty kilometers from our position."

"Good..."

_

* * *

_

"Ow, Shinji, that really hurt our ears." Said an annoyed-looking Asuka, who walked to the door next to a disgruntled Shinji. Toji and Rei followed her. Aida immediately, at the sight of Toji, screamed, "What the hell did you do to your leg!!!!??"

"Uh, I got 'n a really bad car accident?"

"NO really, you disappeared for a week! Without notice!!!"

"Okay fine, I'm 'da fourth pilot for the Evangelions."

"Really?"

"Yah."

Smack! Asuka had punched Toji, again. "You retard! What did we just discuss!!?"

"Uh, Asuka," Shinji intervened, "Maybe we should tell Aida…um, the truth."

"…"

Later, the four of them were telling Aida about what had happened in the last week. Unfortunately, they all failed to mention the demise of most the NERV personnel, which led to the uncomfortable subject of—

"Hey Shinji, shouldn't Misato be home right about now?"

At this, Asuka, Rei, and Shinji all looked down, downcast, while Toji broke down into tears.

"Toji stop it dammit!"

"Umm, Aida, when SEELE attacked NERV. They killed everyone…including Misato and the others…"

A long silence ensued, while Aida tried to cope with this new knowledge. Shinji continued to pat a weeping Toji's back. Rei just frowned at her drink while Asuka stared at Toji quizzically.

* * *

BOOOOOM!!! Another explosion outside rocked the Vanguard corridors, sending Misato and Maya to the floor. Kaji, quickly grabbed their hands and pulled them towards him. "Thanks Kaji,!" echoed the two women. 

"Misato then asked Kaji, "What's going on outside, it really does sound like a miniature war out there."

"A war, in some sense."

Both girls stared at him. Maya then asked unbelievingly, "You mean, we're in a war zone?"

"Uh-huh, follow me if you want to see some action." He smiled and began walking again.

Takeda shouted, "Target the Battlecruiser's frontal armor and weapons!! Take out the bridge! Scatter fire will accomplish nothing!" his voice echoed through the capacious War Room. It was quite large, for it was based on the same design as the Tokyo-3 NERV Main Tactics Room, with one wall being the On-screen and three separate control platforms. In the middle of the larger center control platform, there was a giant 3-D hologram-projector, which currently displayed the fourth SEELE attack force that appeared over the Vanguard base.

Another explosion rocked the room, caused by a salvo of missiles from the Battlecruiser.

"Raise the Blast shield! We've got to survive this salvo!"

"Sir! We have on screen another fleet of aircraft!"

Takeda looked up from the console he was checking and saw a large group of fighters heading towards him on the Main Screen.

"Sir, I think they're ours."

Indeed, for the new arrivals commenced firing at the SEELE forces.

"Sir, it appears the leader is trying to contact us. Shall I patch him through?"

"Yes."

The Main Screen switched to show the grinning face of Major Howe Greene. A friend of Takeda's from old. He was a large man, with a large fuzzy beard.

"Well hello Takeda. Long time no see. So you're already in charge of this joint, huh?"

Takeda smiled warmly at the large bearded face on the screen, "It has been a while, hasn't it? And no, sorry, but I'm second in command. But pleasantries later; you see, we are under attack in four points, so we're in dire need of help. Could please take out that Battlecruiser for us?"

"On it! Oh yeah, and one thing. The commander rotation period has ended. Command told me to inform you that you're now in command of this place. Could ya' kindly tell the former commander that he has been rotated? Okay?" With that, his face blinked out and the battle was once again played out on the Main Screen through several observation cameras.

"Interesting, that the GLA command wing would order a officer rotation during a battle. Open a link to Commander Kotone's G-suit!"

"I'm sorry Commander, but I can't raise him. There is no communications signal coming from his mobile suit. It appears to be jammed from the inside."

_He must be finally testing out his little project now, Operation Open Mind…with the so-called AT Imitator_

"Never mind Commander, we can still contact him through the intercom, though his hologram projection system is off."

On the hologram projector next to Takeda, the last SEELE Battlecruiser reeled about to engage Howe's fighters. Howe did not ride in a fighter, but oversaw the battle in the main bridge of another Battlecruiser, which soon joined the SEELE Battlecruiser on the projector. On the digital battlefield, the fighters swarmed around the Battlecruiser, striking it with missiles and lasers. Little green explosion erupted on the hologram, representing fighters blowing up and the capital ships dealing and receiving punishment.

The battle was faring quite well for the Vanguard, for the SEELE Armada that had appeared still had yet to locate the main sectors of the Vanguard base, which was sprawled across the whole island, going underground as well. The fighters under the command of Lt. Gen. Hogan then joined the NERV forces over the base. Of course, that meant that the second SEELE armada was only minutes away.

"Howe, this is Hogan, we've got to take out the Battlecruiser! Have your forces concentrate on taking out the weapons pods and bridge. Let our ground weapons emplacements and armor worry about the fighters."

"We hear you. Target the weapons pods!"

The officer at the weapons station immediately shouted orders to the technicians, who quickly did their work. Outside, the gun emplacements on the Battlecruiser swiveled and targeted the enemy ship and fired, sending green and red bursts of laser lancing out at designated spots on the cruiser, along with shells from naval autocannons and swarms of missiles. Explosions blanketed the SEELE Battlecruiser as the Vanguard forces concentrated their fire on it. Suddenly, a volley of PPCs smashed through a flight of Vanguard aircraft, sending burning wreckage flying in all directions.

"Too late…" the SEELE reinforcements had arrived.

* * *

Tai floated in the air in his new body, waiting for the Evangelions to do something. The Evangelions were all much larger than Tai's G-suit, but size didn't matter much, nor did numbers when it came to Tai. The sun had already begun to set. _This is starting to tick me off…I guess I'll have to do the honors…_He flew at one of the units, gripping his sword with both hand. 

He slashed at the Evangelion, which raised its own blade to block with inhuman speed. The other Evangelions quickly closed in on Tai. Tai leapt around the mob, stabbing and slashing away with his swords. He was keeping a rhythm to his movements; stab, parry, slash, dodge, stab, parry, slash, dodge. Over the ocean the duel continued, with Tai holding out against the supposedly superior numbers.

Tai flew high up, with the Evangelions ascending with him. _Come on, seriously…this is pathetic…these computers, though cloned from a human mind, are nothing compared to the real thing_. That was true. Tai would be in trouble if they had all worked together.

Tai brought up a blade and blocked a sword coming down on him. With a twisting motion of his arm, he disarmed the Evangelion, and with his other blade, he cut a long furrow across the chest of it and kicked it away, turning just in time to knock aside a stab and reply with one his own. That stab sent another Evangelion plummeting down to the ocean. _Damn this can't be...too easy...but if they want me to destroy the evas...then I'll do so with a vengeance_

He spun around, slashing off the arms of two Evangelions. He followed through with stab to one, and a dual slash with both of his blades to the other. _Wait a sec…_ he looked down, _the Evangelions I just knocked down have regenerated their arms? Guess that means I will have to destroy them one by one. _He rushed at one and before it could react, he kicked away its sword, spun it around with a vicious roundhouse kick, and sliced off its wings. He then proceeded to kick it again, and sent it flying upward, and sheathed one of his katanas. _Mitsurugi Rei!_

As the Evangelion came flailing down, Tai brought up his single blade and sent a flurry of rapid but fluid slashes upward to meet the hapless foe, keeping it in the air with the force and speed of his blows. Suddenly, the armor plating of the Evangelion fell off in burnt shreds, revealing a freakish humanoid figure with a strange glowing orb in the center of its chest. _What the? The orb must be its power source, the rumored S2 engine..._

Tai quickly stabbed at the engine, but the blade only nicked a small piece out of the orb. Suddenly, a fist came into view, smashing into Tai's chest and sending him careening backwards. Several of his frontal plates, bent and twisted out of shape, fell off into the roaring ocean below. _Crap…it's regenerated already? _The now rewinged Evangelion streaked after him. _Hmph! If swords don't work, maybe old-fashioned fists will! _Tai fired his thrusters and with burst of speed flew at the incoming threat.

As the Evangelion threw his fist at Tai, Tai ducked his head over at the last second and drove the point of his foot into the center of S2 engine, cracking the orb. _Success..._ A moment later, the damaged engine of the Evangelion ruptured and engulfed it Tai in a white mushroom cloud explosion.

* * *

The next morning, Asuka and Rei walked to school without Shinji, who had gone to a "sleepover party" at Aida's house, which consisted of him, Toji, and Aida. 

"Hey Rei."

Rei turned her head around and looked at Asuka, again with the familiar I-know-no-emotions mask.

"Um, yeah. Hey, have you ever thought of going out with Shinji, I think you two are seriously a cute **snigger** couple."

"No." replied Rei, again without any hint of emotion. She continued forward. _Why does Asuka keep bringing up this annoying subject…?_

When they got to school, they decided to wait for Shinji. ("Hey Rei, why don't we wait for Shinji, then you can **snigger** say good morning to him.")

(Rei waited but didn't say anything. _Sure…why not…?_)

Twenty minutes later…

"I am so going to kill Shinji, that little imbecile!" snarled Asuka, "Why da' #$ did I even bother waiting for that retard!" She angrily kicked a stone. "We are late for class. Might as well play hooky for the rest of the day." She began walking, "Then I can find Shinji and pound his face!"

Rei followed behind Asuka. _Shinji's never late for school…wonder what happened?_ She looked up. _It's a beautiful day though…_ Suddenly, an image of her and an older boy walking through a garden flashed through her mind. She stopped and put a hand to her head. _What was that…that boy…I've seen him somewhere before… _

Ten minutes later, the two girls stood outside the entrance to the NERV Headquarters, or whatever was left of the shredded metal door. The heavily rusted metal door had a large hole in the middle as if it had been burned through with a fusion cutter. Rei said, "This must be where the SEELE assault force came through." Asuka just walked in through the man-sized hole. Rei calmly reached into her backpack and pulled out a flashlight and followed Asuka. Once inside, Rei flicked on the power and shown the light ahead of her.

"Uh, Rei, move your flashlight."

"Sorry."

They continued deeper down, this time with Rei leading them, since she had memorized the base's entire layout by heart. They walked past sections of walls with torch marks and large gashes, as if they had been punched through with a giant knife. The air also grew thicker and damper.

"Hey wondergirl…do you even know where we're headed?"

"The cages..."

"We're going that deep?"

Suddenly, Asuka tripped and fell forward on her face. Raging, she jumped up and was about to kick whatever had tripped her, when Rei gasped and pointed a finger at the object. Asuka took one close look and screamed.

* * *

In the Main Tactics Room, Takeda was yelling orders every couple of seconds as the battle drew out. Holograms were everywhere, some blinking, other appearing, as the battle raged back and forth above them. The computer would occasionally blare out information about the battle. "Enemy Battlecruiser has targeted the secondary repair facility. Facility has withstood attack." 

Takeda strolled over to one of the consoles and brought up a holochart of the battle statistics. He grimaced as a long list of casualties rolled down. _We've taken casualties…quite a lot at that…apparently SEELE has better pilots than we thought…none of the facilities have been severely damaged though._

"Sir, we've detected another SEELE ship speeding towards us about five hundred mils away. It is predicted that it will reach us in about ten minutes. We can't tell what kind of ship it is or what it is carrying. It seems to have some sort of shielding that reflects radar. Our sensors can't pierce it."

Another operator then turned and said, "But it does seem to be leaking radioactive particles. I think the ship may be carrying some sort of nuclear device."

Takeda sat down and rested his chin on his hand. "Send two MCV's to take it out."

"Yes sir."

"Also, have all personnel prepare to evacuate as soon as possible. Order all of the subs back to base and prep them for quick loading."

"Yes sir."

Suddenly, a large explosion shook the entire, causing some of the lights to fall down and crash onto the floor. Takeda quickly yelled as he dragged himself off the floor, "Damage report!! What happened?"

"The enemy forces have targeted our section of the HQ."

"Shields are down! They blew out the generators with that missile strike!"

Almost immediately after the words had left the operator's mouth, the lights went out, along with all of the hologram displays. A second later, a synthesized voice called out,

"Main Power Units 1-4 have been damaged. Rerouting all remaining power to Main Tactics Room and life support system." Then everything flickered back to life.

"Emergency Power Generator 5 and 6 are running and fully operational. All systems checked and are good to go."

The Main Screen flickered on to show a picture of a smoking crater, which was what was left of Power Generators 1-4. Nearly everyone in the room gasped at the size of the crater, which around the edges showed the broken passageways and torn, twisted cables.

"What was that?" called out Takeda, "How were the generators destroyed?"

A one of the officers turned around from her station and replied, "Sir, there is no known conventional weapon of this strength, apart from tactical nuclear devices, that could both penetrate the shield and still have enough remaining force to take out the generators. My guess is that it was caused by some sort of sabotage."

Another explosion rocked the Main Tactics Room, sending people flying from their chairs.

"Status report!" yelled Takeda, once again dragging himself off the ground. _I'm getting too old for this…_

"Enemy Battlecruisers have targeted the Command facility, with the Tactics Room as the epicenter! Without shields, the armor plating is getting shredded. They're also using some kind of new high-end particle beam. Its power is nothing like those of a PPC."

More explosions rocked the room, causing the lights to flicker. Some chunks of the ceiling came crashing down, falling on the first level of the room. A hologram showed a SEELE Battlecruiser firing a thin white beam of energy at their Main Facility

"Armor Plates 12 through 2 had been penetrated."

Takeda paced the room with dozens of pairs of eyes following him. "Then we are no longer safe in our own house. We may even have a traitor, or more,among us. Are the subs ready Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir."

"Commence the evacuation!"

At that moment, the blast doors of the Tactics Room opened and in came Kaji, and after a few seconds, two young and very shaken women. The taller one had long, dark blue hair and was wearing a NERV officer's uniform. She was also holding a data pad. The other, another slender, also pretty girl, had short brown hair and was wearing a Vanguard uniform, though Takeda didn't remember her face. Takeda guessed they were about twenty or so. He turned and called out to Kaji and called out, "You're back? And who are they?"

Kaji grinned and said, "Oh, they're my fan club."

"No they're not." Takeda walked over to them. "I presume that you are Major Katsuragi, the Chief-of-Operations at NERV." He looked at her uniform, "Commander Kamiya has told me a lot about you. And you," he turned to the other girl, "You must be Lt. Maya Ibuki. Correct?"

Both girls nodded affirmative.

"But where is Dr. Akagi. I heard that we picked her up as well."

"I'm here." Everyone turned to look as the blast doors opened again, this time the world-famous Dr. Akagi walking through with her long white lab coat flowing out behind her.

"Ritsuko!" Misato ran over and gave Ritsuko a hug. "What's wrong Ritusko?"

"Oh, nothing… Maya, I was so worried that something had happened to you!"

Maya smiled and nodded.

"I am sorry to interrupt this reunion. But may I remind you people that we are still under attack. Dr. Akagi, may I ask you for your assistance?"

"Yes, of course."

* * *

Punching in the chest of an Eva (short for Evangelion), Tai followed with a quick slash, decapitating it instantly. Tai proceeded to slash open the chest armor and reveal the S2 Engine. He then grabbed the Eva by the neck and shoulder and drove his armored knee into it again and again, cracking it and causing the Eva to explode, again engulfing him in a blinding white cloud of radioactive particles. 

Already, Tai's armor had hundred of pockets from experiencing miniature nuclear explosions firsthand. Some parts of his armor had been completely shredded up; his left leg was missing it knee guard, which had been blown off when he discovered that the Eva's also had projectile weapons, his other leg had a gash so deep that it revealed the geo-titanium bone frame beneath the armor. His G-suit had also turned from white and blue to dark shades of red, as the blood from the Eva's splashed over him.

Tai hovered there, staring hard at the remaining Eva which had mysteriously become motionless. A second later,the Unitflew around Tai, toward the Vanguard base. Tai turned and quickly snapped off a couple of shotgun blasts then proceeded to pursue. When he reached them,it abruptly stopped and flew towards him. Tai tensed, prepared to fight, but the Eva just flew past him. He stared. _That was pointless…must have been to waste some time…or collect data...

* * *

_

Asuka stumbled backward into Rei, knocking the flashlight from her hand. Rei quickly jumped up, pulled Asuka up to her feet, and retrieved the flashlight. Asuka stood transfixed at the object. It was the body of a NERV personnel. It was covered in blood. Asuka quickly turned around and hurled out her breakfast.

"Uhhhnnn, Rei lets get out of here."

"No."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I have reason to believe Shinji is down here."

"What!??"

Rei just continued walking. Asuka quickly scrambled after her.

"…"

"Ooooooooooooh! No wonder you have no friends!"

Two hours later, Rei still continued walking through the darkened corridors of the former NERV stronghold, with Asuka following her, unusually quiet.

_Man, she must really like Shinji to put up with this…_

"You must really like Shinji, to stay in this dump looking for him."

"You were the one who wanted to come down here, so I don't know why you are complaining."

They continued walking. Suddenly, a pair of arms shot out of the darkness and grabbed Asuka by the shoulders and covered her mouth. Asuka, in turn, screamed in fright and jabbed an elbow into the assailant, causing him to double forward. Rei quickly shined her light in his direction, revealing a groaning Toji, and Aida and Shinji doubled up in silent laughter.

"I am soooo going to kill you!" Asuka screamed.

At that, Aida started laughing even harder. Indignantly, Asuka strode over and kicked Aida in the ribs, causing him to grunt in pain, but making him to laugh even harder yet.

Rei, standing away from the ruckus, looked at Shinji and asked, "Ikari-san, why didn't you come to school? We were worried that something might have happened."

"Oh, sorry, Aida and Toji wanted to come back to what was left of the geo-front and NERV HQ."

"How'd you find your way around?"

"Kensuke hacked into his dad's files a printed out a map."

"Oh...let's go back...this place is starting to scare me..."

"Wanna go to the Eva cages?"

"NO!"

Three hours of walking in circles later, the group was now back at the entrance of the geo-front.

"Good job Shinji, you got us lost like six times!"

Toji opened his backpack and passed out several cans of soda.

"Here's one for you Shinji…Kensuke, catch! Here Asuka. And Rei…? What? I know I brought at least six…"

Aida sheepishly grinned and said, "Uh, I had a couple back down there. Heh…"

"What', you mean you've been stealing drinks from my backpack?"

"Sorry I got thirsty."

While Toji was yelling at Aida, Shinji walked up to Rei and gave her his drink.

"Here, you can have mine," he smiled at her in a embarrassed sort of way, "I'm not really…um…thirsty…um…yeah."

"Oh, thanks." Rei thrust her hand behind her into her backpack and spontaneously pulled out a cup, "I brought a cup, so we can share."

Asuka watched the two different dramas occur, though much more interested in the one with Shinji and Rei. She watched as Rei deftly poured some of the soda into the cup and handed the can back to Shinji, who gave a quick "thank you" and blushed.

_Sure they don't like each other…my ass!!_

He signed as he opened up his soda. "SEELE really killed a lot of NERV guys. I can't believe 'dey shot Misato. Din' think there'd be some guy heartless enough to kill a girl as pretty as Misato…"

At that, he broke down crying again.

"Oh yeah, sure she was a girl, she was just twice your age, third in command of a SEELE spin-off, and had a _little_ drinking problem."

"…**blub** I didn't a chance to ask her out…hic!"

Shinji patted his back sympathetically ("No really she really was twice your age, and she was probably going to marry Kaji anyways…" repeated Asuka, who said the latter part in a rather ), all the while drinking and not really conscious of what Toji was crying about. Suddenly Toji jumped up and yelled, "They must pay for 'dis heinous crime!!!"

"Say what!?" Asuka stared at Toji with a mixture of shock and amusement.

"Who's he talking about?" asked Shinji absentmindedly

"Those SEELE guys must pay!" He punched a hand into his soda can, which exploded, drenching everyone with the sticky sweet fluid.

"Tooojiii…!?"

"Wat?"

"MY DRESS!!"

"Oh…" _Oh crap..._

WHONK! They winced as Asuka wrenched Toji's flashlight from his grip and began whacking Toji with it. The one-sided scuffle ended with a still-angry Asuka standing atop an unconscious Toji. Toji groaned as he looked up at Asuka. Unfortunately, he ended up looking up her skirt unintentionally, giving her another reason to beat the living daylight out of him again.

"SO YOU STILL HAVE THE NERVE TO PEEK!!!!???"

"ARGHHH MAKE IT STOP!!!! HEEEEEELP!!!!"

Aida grinned through his camcorder, "OOOoooh…that's gonna leave a mark…"

"ARGH!! MERCY!!!!!!"

Shinji gave an involuntary shudder as he watched Asuka pummel Toji to the floor.

_So scary…we really need health insurance for living with her…!_

Fifteen minutes and a trip to the local pharmacy later, a heavily bandaged Toji staggered out of the front door of the shop, followed by a frowning Asuka, along with a silent Rei and Shinji.

"I…can't believe you did 'dat…Owww…"

"You ruined my dress. It's only fair that I punish you."

Behind Asuka, Shinji started laughing.

Asuka spun around and stopped him. "What's so funny."

"Hehe. You."

"Do you want me to hurt you?"

"No…but-"

"Exactly!" And with that, she spun around and continued walking, her nose held highin the air.

Aida (who by the way, had recorded all of the events that had taken place that day with his camcorder) then, rather unwittingly, said, "You know, this is gonna make a great drama movie…or a comedy at that…"

"Thank YOU for YOUR OPINION, KENSUKE!!!!"

The next thing he knew, Aida had taken a knuckle sandwich from Asuka and was lying flat on his back.

Shinji turned to say something to Rei, only finding empty space beside him.

"Huh?"

He looked behind him and saw Rei looking at a TV set at an electronics boutique store. He ran over to her, calling, "Hey! Rei! What're you looking at!?" She turned to look at him and pointed at the TV screen. He looked. It was a newsflash, about the events that had led to the demise of NERV. It showed pictures of the SEELE attack on the geo-front; the bombardment, then the SEELE assault force arriving on the scene. But it showed none of the violence that had taken place inside the NERV HQ.

"_As you can see, the UN was forced to dispatch its troops to ensure the safety of those living in the city of Tokyo-3. The heads of the NERV garrison was disregarding orders to follow his own personal agenda. That agenda is currently unknown but involved using the Evangelions for personal use and experimenting. This would ultimately kill hundreds in Tokyo-3._**"**

Pictures of the Evangelions, of his father Gendo, Commander Fuyutsuki, Ritsuko, and then…one of Misato, flashed by.

"Hey! What're you watching?" Asuka, Aida, and Toji joined them.

Shinji replied, "Look!", his eyes not leaving the screen.

"_The UN had first attempted a peaceful takeover of NERV by hacking into the computer mainframe of the base, but the NERV personnel resisted this, forcing the UN to reluctantly order the takeover of NERV by force. But then NERV utilized the Evangelions against the UN forces, causing many fatalities._**"**

"UN my ass!"

"What about your ass?" asked Kensuke sarcastically.

"Did you say...something?"

"Why yes I-NOOOO MERCY!!!!"

"Asuka...please try not to kill him..."

Footage depicting Asuka and Unit-02 destroying SEELE forces appeared.

_Haha, Asuka beating up on SEELE!_

"_Sadly, the pilots of the Evangelions were killed in combat, though they were forced to pilot the Evangelions against their will._**"**

_**SAY WHAT!!!??**_

A picture of Rei, himself, and Asuka appeared on the screen ("KIA" appeared below Asuka and Rei's pictures. "MIA" appeared below Shinji's). _I don't know whether to laugh or to cry..._

"What kind of crap is this!!!?" screamed Asuka, stomping her feet, "Whaddaya me-" Shinji covered her mouth with a hand.

"Uh, Asuka?" Shinji whispered into her ear, "There are people watching."

It was true, for a crowd had gathered behind them. Some of the people in the crowd were muttering things to each other and shooting glances at their little group.

Toji took one look around and whispered, "Uh, I propose 'dat we get oudda here…"

"Aida adjusted his now-bent glasses and said, "I second that motion."

"I have to agree. People will find it strange that the news reports us as dead, while we're standing here watching it." Said Rei. She turned and quick wove a path through the crowd, with Shinji, Asuka, Toji, and Aida following. Shinji couldn't help but overhear some comments on their departure.

"Psss…weren't those the kids on TV?"

"Didn't the report saw they were dead or something?"

_My god…wait till tomorrow at school…_

End chp. 4

ATS 4!

Tai wobbles precariously onto the stage as the curtains close.

Tai: Hello again. Sorry i wasn't here last time. i got involved with some issues... (clasps a hand to his back) Damn, my back...

Matt walks onto stage.

Matt: Well, if you were more careful you wouldn't have been hit by that last missile barrage. Now your _Blue Lancer_ looks like Swiss cheese.

FireDragonBL walks onto stage.

BL: Good Evening. Today, I would like to give you a demonstration of firearms safety! Tai! Shoot me!!!

Matt: Say what?"

Tai: You were drinking again weren't you?

Bl: Shoot me or I'll make your precious Magnums disappear!!!!

Tai: Okay okay fine whatever...(Tai pulls out his shiny gun and aims it at BL) Don't blame me for anything that happens...

BL: No problem!

audience gasps. Tai fires the Magnum. The bullet strikes a forcefield that appears. The field looks rather familiar...

Tai: What the hell? An AT field?

BL: YEEEESS!!! IT IS AN AT FIELD!!!!H4H4H4H4H4 PH34R M4 M4D S4F37Y 5KILLZ!!!! ...Ahem...so you see people, the best wayto havefirearms safety is to have an AT Field!

Matt snorts.

Matt: Like hell that's going to help.

Misato walks on stage.

Misato:So you're an Angel...?

BL: You could say that...

Misato pulls out a walkietalkie and talks into it.

BL: Uh Misato? I was ki—

A giant purple foot crashes through the ceiling and squishes BL, AT Field and all.

Misato: Good work Shinji!

Shinji: Thanks Misato. Uh...are you sure it was a good idea to kill the writer?

Misato: Of course...he was an Angel

Shinji: Yes ma'am.

* * *

-meanwhile, somewhere in Paris. 

Tour Guide: Et c'est le Tour Eiffel monde-célèbre!

BL yawns.

BL/ _I wonder how my clone is faring back in Tokyo...?_

Tour guide: La tour est de 324 mètres de grande, et est peint tous les sept ans.

BL/ _I coulda sworn I asked for English..._

Tour Guide: La tour a coûté au gouvernement français 7.800.000 francs or au  
buil en 1889.

BL/ _maybe he understands Italian or German..._

BL: Parlate italiano?

Tour Guide: monsieur, Je suis désolé, mais je parle seulement français et allemand et ne comprends pas ce que vous dites. Mais si vous laisserez, Je pourrais trouver un traducteur...

BL: Uh, Guten tag?

Tour Guide: Ampèreheure vous parlez allemand ! Mais vous semblez asiatique !

BL: Sprechen Sie im deutschen Fluch ihn, wenn Sie ihn verstehen! (If you speak German then speak it Damn it!)

Tour Guide: Keine Notwendigkeit, ungeduldig meinen Freund zu erhalten, Ich verstehe Sie tadellos! (No need to get impatient, my friend, I understand you.)

BL: Oh what the hell screw this ######### trip I'm going back to Tokyo.

BL walks away

Tour Guide: Was über die Spitze? (Where's the tip?)

End ATS 4

k people...pls R&R


	5. Chp 5 Exodus

hi again thx for the reviews, i found them rather helpful...

yeah anyways this is chp 5...enjoy

Chp. 5 Exodus

Another thunderous BOOM echoed through the massive Tactics Room. Takeda rushed to the side of the platform and yelled to the last technicians on one of the lower control platforms to evacuate.

"But what about you sir?"

"I'll follow later! Just go!"

They echoed obediently, "Yes sir!" and ran off through the exit.

Takeda walked back to a console and sat in the chair. He was now alone in the darkened room. He typed in a series of commands and brought up lists of statistics. His heart fell as he scanned the list of casualties. The SEELE forces had taken heavy casualties as well, but they were always receiving reinforcements. Already, there were an estimated 40 SEELE units above the base.

_Damn, if they had this many forces, then why did they have so much trouble with the Angels??? Must have been that damn terror field Kotone was talking about._

The Vanguard forces, on the other hand, were alone an outnumbered. Takeda scrolled down the list to the total. He sighed. The computer began reading out the totals.

"MCV units total only 50 percent of original strength."

"Fighter squadron strength at 20 percent."

"AAS forces and turret defense system have been obliterated."

He sighed again. _The fortunes of war…_

"Computer! Are all personnel evacuated?"

"Yes."

"Have the subs begin retreat."

"Message sent."

Suddenly, alarms went off around him.

"SEELE ground forces have entered complex. Preparing automated defense systems."

Holograms popped up, showing SEELE shock troops entering through holes blown into the Vanguard base.

"Computer. Initialize self-destruct sequence of nuclear reactors. Set at thirty minutes. We'll give SEELE some end-show fireworks."

"Sequence initialized."

Takeda then took out a data disk and inserted it into a slot beneath the console.

"Computer, download yourself into the disk."

"Downloading…"

A second later, the disk popped out. And he put it into a case and pocketed it.

_I guess it's my turn to leave…_

He got up and walked to the doors. Before he left though, he turned to take one last look at what he had helped create with his own hands. His eyes fell upon the 3-D operations projector in the middle, then all of the consoles and screens where all of the technicians had done their jobs. Then he quickly strode out of the room.

* * *

In the darkened meeting room, the members of the Committee of Human Instrumentality met, and theydiscussed the outcome of the battle over TerroristVanguardOperations Base T-08. 

"We has annihilated all organized defense in the base…we are cleaning the facilities of the pockets of resistance."

"Good…very good…"

_The pieces are coming together...first...the defeat of theAncients past Angels ensure Humanity's survival...then...Humanity...the true 18th Angel...will finally blossom to its potential...with SEELE at its head..._

"Sir, that rebel pilot...is his mech really that powerful?"

"That is out of place..."

"I'm, sorry sir." the aide left the room.

"That pilot was just giving uscombat datathat we require for the Evas...he was just playing his part...without his consent..."

"No one can truly stand against the might of Evangelion...now we only require the Children..."

"As you can see, these G-suits may pose a threat...though as we ordered the Units to provide only token resistance, the suit managed to penetrate the AT field with conventional weapons...this is...highly unusual...but if we wanted to...we could have taken over the Vanguard base without much trouble...but the UN members are already getting rowdy over this matter...they're afraid we will use the Evas to gain complete control..."

"..How many Units were lost?"

"I believe three...they can be replaced...but at a cost..."

"No matter...the agenda will make the time table..."

"Has the boy been sent yet?"

"...Yes..."

"Then what do we have to worry about? Absolutely nothing..."

* * *

Tai soared around through the one-sided battle, giving assistance to all of the units remaining. He gritted his teeth as a barrage of missiles hammered at him. _Shit my suits going to pieces. Damn S2 Engine always has to go nuclear…_

"G-suit has taken severe damage. Continued use of brain wave synchronization system is not advised. Could result in damage to mental stability and brain tissue damage."

_Shit…_

"Computer, begin mind wave transfer. Begin switch back to manual operation. Turn on autopilot."

"Initiating."

Suddenly, the battle surrounding him disappeared, and Tai saw stars and vibrant colors surrounding him. He then felt a familiar tug somewhere behind his navel, like that on a roller coaster.

A moment later, he was back in the cockpit, with the synch dome covering, rising from over his head to reveal yet again the surrounding scenes of combat. His body felt as if it had been hit with everything his G-suit was hit with. _Humorous...so this is what the kids had to go through…I feel like I've been cut to ribbons._ He looked around and saw that the Vanguard forces were losing, as they were now nearly outnumbered thirty-to-one._ If we continue this, we're all going to die…might as well live to fight another day, as we have a choice in this situation_.

"This is Commander Kotone, I am ordering a retreat. We cannot win this fight. Use your cloaking shields so that we can't be followed."

On all of his screens, Vanguard forces began blinking out of sight as they activated their cloaking shields. The last to disappear was the giant Battlecruiser, which was the only help that they had received from the Command Wing, or so they thought. The SEELE forces were once again left to fathom what had just happened.

Once the survivors of the Vanguard outpost had retreated a safe distance, Tai checked his sensors, hoping to see the submarines which would supposedlybe carrying the evacuees underneath them. But to his surprise, they weren't there.

* * *

Takeda strode briskly down the darkened halls of the base. He was walking with his gun drawn, to deal with unwanted intruders. He took a left at an intersection, reaching the naval hangar underground. The cavernous hangar contained four giant subs being prepped for evacuation, though they were just about done. 

"Hey, Commander, over here!" yelled a Vanguard officer, waving to Takeda and motioning for him to get into the sub. He shook his head.

"Not until everyone else is evacuated!"

Ten minutes later, Takeda was standing on the bridge of the _Penetrator_, which was the largest of the four submarines that they had. Submarines were quite valuable, now that only three-quarters of the Earth's original land area was left after being swamped in the Second Impact.

"All right! Launch the subs!" called out Takeda. The subs left in two pairs of two. As they moved out, more, larger explosions shook the cavern and chunks of the ceiling fell down, splashing around the subs. A large rock clanged off the armor covering of the Bridge, causing everyone to wince.

When they were finally in the open waters, Takeda had all of them dive to the deepest depth to avoid the SEELE forces still flying around the island. Then he had them head toward a signal provided by a tracker which Takeda had before taken the liberty of attaching to Tai's G-suit.

Takeda paced around the bridge. He stopped and looked at his watch. _Hmm…two minutes and the fireworks begin.

* * *

_

Maya walked from station to station on the three-floored bridge of the _Penetrator_, attracted to the all the new, sophisticated technology that she saw. A technician waved her over to his station. He looked about her age, with short brown hair and curious blue eyes. He looked at her, examining her closely. Maya blushed and looked at her feet when she noticed this.

"Hmmm…I've never seen you before. Are you new here?"

Maya flushed, not knowing how to respond, "Umm…well…ummm…well I don't, umm, work here, if that's what you mean."

"You don't work here? Then you must be one of the NERV people that arrived a week ago. Correct?" He smiled.

"Um, yes, I am."

"Really? That's amazing! I'm sorry about what happened…"

"That's okay… Um, what do you do here?" she glanced at the glowing console in front of him.

"Oh, I'm in charge of the sonar. My friend Rob, he's two stations to the left of here, he's in charge of the navigation and propulsion."

He went on, enthusiastically giving an overview of his station, his work, and each part of the system. Maya listened intently, taking in every bit of information, nodding here and then.

She liked living in the Twenty-first Century with Twenty-first Century technology, and had always been fascinated by electronics since she was a child. She created her first program at the age of eight, could build and disassemble a laptop at ten, and had mastered Java and C, among others, at twelve. She was a prodigy and picked out of thousands for her ability to cope with technology. She was also adept at all kinds of Physics. She had passed the International Technology Standards Exam at thirteen, which caught the attention of many organizations. She had then outshone all the other technicians and operators at NERV, and was considered to be Ritsuko's unofficial protégée. Maya, the bright child she was, had a knack which for analyzing data by just watching things (not to mention she enjoyed experimenting with technology), so you was a very fast learner

"See this hologram," he pointed to a 3D almost transparent globe projected on the top of his station, with what appeared to be the miniature outline of the _Penetrator_ in its center. Next to the _Penetrator_, there were three, long sub-like shapes which Maya presumed to be the other subs. Around the subs, the surrounding environment was apparently mapped out through 3D imagin.

"This is the sonar projection field. If the sonar picks anything up, an outline of the object will show on the hologram. As you can see, the otherthree subs are shown on there."

At that moment, Ritsuko came over to Maya and said, "Maya, have you seen Kaji or Misato? I need to talk with them."

"Uh, no, sorry ma'am."

"Oh, oh well. I see you're making some friends." She smiled at the technician, who gaped at her.

"Oh my god! You're _the_ Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, aren't you? I've read all about your theories about quantum physics and your observations about the Angels." he stood up, "Wow, it's a honor to meet you. I'm really sorry about what happened at Tokyo-3!"

"Oh, um, thank you." She flushed as well, caught off guard by this unexpected outburst, "Yes, um, Maya, could you please accompany me?"

"Yes ma'am."

Once they were a good distance away and climbing the stairs to the middle deck, Ritsuko, turned to Maya and said, "Well, as you can probably guess, NERV is done for. Gone. Demolished. I was wondering how you were feeling about this...Well, I mean, that do you have any plans for the future, your career I mean?"

"Um, not now, well, I haven't really given any thought to it. What about you?"

"I might attempt to go on my own as a scientist…maybe start my own laboratory." They walked past Takeda standing on the observation deck.

"Oh…I was wondering…if, I could maybe come with you?"

"I was hoping that you would ask that. I would like you to become my actual protégée."

"I'd love to!"

"Really? Well then, I guess that's settled," she smiled at Maya, "I'm just not sure about the starting the laboratory. I'm, like the rest of us, dead broke."

"Ibuki! Dr. Akagi!"

Maya and Ritsuko turned around, to see a waving Aoba and Hyuga running towards them.

"Dr. Akagi! Maya! Thank god you're alive!" shouted Hyuga as he neared them.

"We thought that you were dead." Laughed Hyuga smiling at them.

Maya, overjoyed to see that another one of her co-workers had survived, nearly jumped on Aoba, crying with relief.

"Oh my god! I thought that you two had died," She let go, skipping back a step.

Ritsuko grinned at Maya, who blushed, and then also hugged both Hyuga and Aoba.

"Well, it is good to see some other friendly faces."

* * *

Storm ran though the dense forest in his _Thunder Hawk_. _At least we managed to destroy the factory…just too many casualties…a very costly victory_. He shook his head. Around him ran the surviving force of Vanguard AAS's. _What was that old military saying? Oh yes…"To the bold goes the victory, to the_ _dead go the glory."…_

All of the AAS's with him were damaged in some way. The laser on the _Titan_ next to him looked like something salvaged from the scrap heap. So far, he had counted only 12 AAS's left in his command. That was less than afourth of what the total assault force had been. After dodging trees for several minutes, he saw light from the clearing ahead.

"He turned on his intercom, "Okay boys, we're almost home free

He breathed a sigh of relief. As they broke out into the clearing, they saw a sight which immediately stopped all of the AAS's in mid stride. Smoke billowed from dozens of wreckages scattered around the clearing. The rear guard AASsquad was nowhere to be seen. The wrecks, as far as he could see, were mostly dropships.

A sudden thought hit him. He checked his radar and to his dismay, he saw that there were no Vanguard aircraft within the vicinity. He hurriedly switched his intercom channel to their air support and tried to hail them. He heard static. That meant one of three things: they had all turned off their communication systems, they had landed, or they were all dead. Only one was an acceptable cause. Sweat dripped down his brow as he scanned the view of the field in front of him. _NO, IMPOSSIBLE, NO ONE KNEW OF THIS…EVEN SOME IN COMMAND WING DIDN'T KNOW!!!_

Suddenly the ground beneath him and around him erupted as timed mines exploded. Struggling to keep his AAS on its feet, he saw lasers and shells strike the ground in front of him, throwing up dirt and rock. Looking up, he saw MCV's and SEELE aircraft hovering above the clearing. He wanted to scream, to curse SEELE. It was impossible. Only the top leaders and those planning the attack knew about this. The planning had taken a year or so to gather information on the location of the Evangelion manufacturing plant.

A voice then blared out from the communicator in his communicator.

"This is the SEELE Global Air and Space Ultima Squadron. Power down and come out of your cockpit with your hands behind your head. You terrorists have intruded on SEELE property and have intended willful destruction upon it. Surrender or you will be fired upon."

Storm knew that he and his men were out numbered nearly 4 to 1, and they were facing the best of the SEELE force. But he also knew that they would be killed even if they surrendered, probably tortured for information first though. _The hell…Ultima Squadron? Never heard of them…_

Without hesitating, he roared his final command, "OKAY, BOYS IF WE'RE GOING DOWN, THEN WE'RE TAKIN' THEM WITH US. LET'S WASTE SOME AMMO! TO THE LAST MAN!!!"

His men roared at the opposing forces in defiance and fired all of their weapons at the opposing forces. The MCV streaked apart as weapons fire rose up from the forest. The clearing immediately exploded with bright flashes and explosions. Storm, in the excitement of it all, was lost in the bliss of true battle.

* * *

Rei walked into the classroom alone. They had decided as a group that it was better to walk in at different times, as not to draw attention. She took her seat next to the window, just as Toji, Shinji, followed by Aida, walked in. She waved to Shinji, who waved back, in a strangely odd way. He smiled at her. She noticed this as Asuka walked in with Hikari by her side. They were chatting rather animatedly, as if nothing unusual had happened. Asuka took her seat by Shinji, who unexpectedly began chatting with her. _Shinji seems unusually social today…_

"All right kids, quiet down now. We have a new student. A foreign exchange student from England."

The teacher walked in the door, followed by a boy. He had dark-brown hair and deep blue eyes. She guessed he was what girls would call "cute", as several girls gasped and started whispering to one another and giggling. Rei still didn't understand why. Suddenly, he turned and looked at Rei and smiled politely in her direction. She looked back at him, emotionless.

"Okay kids, listen up. He's going to introduce himself."

The boy wrote his name on the board, and then turned around smiling. Rei could see the two girls in front of her whispering and giggling, all the while pointing a finger at the new student. Frowning, Rei read on the black board, "John Travis" in English

"Hi, my name is John Travis. I'm from Greenwich, England. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

His Japanese was quite fluent, apparently.

The class then said together, "Hi!"

* * *

Later, Rei, Shinji, Asuka, Toji, and Aida were eating lunch together on the rooftop. 

Biting into his burger, Shinji, swallowed and said, "You know, what if SEELE comes for us and tries to make us pilot the Evangelion for them?"

"You mean what's left of the Evas."

"Unit-01 wasn't in too bad a shape…though I don't know where it is right now…"

"Well what about ours, Shinji?"

"What about them?"

"They've been scrapped idiot!"

"Oh." A look of realization swept over his face.

Rei sat there, sipping her soda, gazing wistfully out to the horizon. _That new boy…seems so familiar…_ That boy kept on appearing in her thought. She sat, mystified. She stood up.

"I'm going to use the bathroom, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Shinji stared after Rei, who quickly disappeared down the staircase. _She seems to have something on her mind...but what?

* * *

_

Tai and what remained of his force had finally met up with the submarines about an hour later. They had then loaded their MCVs into the subs and traveled to a location off the shore of Japan. Walking away from the docking bay, he went alone, passing by groups of personnel who were quick to salute him. He quickly returned the salutes

As he strode down an empty corridor and took a turn, he bumped roughly into a woman with long, dark hair. As his sunglasses flew off, he quickly grabbed the other person by the arm and yanked her to back on her feet before she hit the ground. His already cracked glasses hit the floor and shattered completely, sending tinted glass flying across the floor.

"Oh Commander, sorry…"

"That's okay, they were getting old."

It was Li-Chan. She looked rather exhausted and looked rather bedraggled. She smiled in an embarrassed sort of way, brushing hair out of her face. They both bent down to pick up the shattered remains of Tai's glasses at the same time, bonking heads together.

"Owww…" they both cried out, rubbing their heads.

They then both sputtered out, "S-Sorry."

"No that's…I mean…"

There was an awkward sort of silence then.

"Well…I guess that's this is the end of the Vanguard, I guess."

"I…we just got news that though our Mech force had managed to destroy the SEELE facility, but was ambushed on the return trip. Apparently, SEELE knew about this beforehand. They, Storm…fought down to the last…man." Her voice trailed off.

Tai stood there, not really accepting this fact. _Storm is dead…our headquarters has been destroyed…our forces decimated…what is there left?_

Li-Chan was apparently thinking the same thing, as she leaned against the wall with a kind of this-is-the-end sigh. Tai looked at her. He noticed she was shivering a bit and hugging her arms tightly to her sides. _When was the last time we actually got some sleep? I haven't slept for two days…Li-Chan probably hasn't for three…curses…we all need some rest…_

He took off his coat and draped it around her shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Li…you should probably go and get some rest." He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, "You're working too hard. What has happened has happened…don't worry. We'll rebuild…somehow."

She looked up and nodded. Tai saw that she seemed rather forlorn. But then she abruptly smiled and said, "You're a really good friend, Tai. Thanks again."

She then swiftly kissed him on the cheek and ran away.

Tai was left standing alone in the hallway. _Did she just…did she…?_ He could feel his face burning. But as he thought about it, it wasn't that bad. He had known her for four years…she were good friends…possibly closer than either of them would like to admit. He quickly pushed that thought out of his head.

…_I'm hungry…must…have…lunch…To the MESS HALL!_

He turned around and met a broadly grinning Hogan. He leapt back in shock.

_Oh crap…_

"D-Don't…say…a word. O-Or else I-I'll…"

Hogan burst out laughing and collapsed to the floor.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

_I could just cry…okay…that's it…you're dead_

_

* * *

_

Tai walked past some personnel carrying carboard boxes. They nodded to them as they passed, and they saluted him (well, half of them just said "sir", as their hands were full).

He came to an intersection with three other routes. _Should I head to the bridge? or the mess hall?_

He looked down at his dustycoat._ I smell like crap. Think I'll take a shower instead..._

He took the left route towards his cabin._

* * *

_

"Hey, Hogan, what's wrong with you're face? You looked like someone beat the crap out of you."

"Uh, nothing, I just, uh…tripped…by accident." Hogan grinned at him, giving the technician the impression that some sort of purple-reddish alien with a head like that of a squashed watermelon was staring at him. The technician blanched visibly at the stomach-churning sight.

"Oh, okay."

When the technician went away, Hogan burst out laughing again. Matt stared.

"Um, Hogan, you're starting to scare us. What have you been drinking…or smoking…or both…? Lemme guess...bar fight? No just kidding...no bar fight on the sub...but if you got drunk..."

Matt continued to work at his console, reprogramming the various circuits in his G-suits right arm while technicians replaced or repaired the armor on the back, as it had been shredded in the last battle. Hogan looked at him, opened his mouth to say something, then collapsed onto the floor in a fit of laughter.

"What's so funny, or is it just your mind has finally cracked? You're very drunk aren't you? I know we've just lost our battle with SEELE…not to mention half our forces and…" he proceeded to list all or their shortcomings and pet peeves absentmindedly, ending with "And we've got a buncha dumbasses back at CW…but we'll live…recover…yeah…"

"Sorry, can't tell. Made a promise." He grinned at Matt, and then went back to his console, checking the weapons systems. He continued grinning though. _He he…Tai and Li-Chan…who'd 've thought_.

"Huh?"

"Uh…nothing…nothing!" He proceeded to burst out laughing again. Matt looked as though he wanted to take the wrench in his hand and punch it through Hogan's face, but he controlled himself, to some extent at least.

About twenty seconds later, Hogan staggered away with several more bruises and bumps. _Pain…fear…ow! Too much pain…must share…the pain!

* * *

_

Tai went into his cabin and slumped down on the bed. _…Ugh…so sweaty, I really should take a bath…

* * *

_

Kaji and Misato walked around the corridors of the submarine. Kaji looked at his data pad.  
"According to his instructions, his cabin should be this one."

They stopped at the door of cabin 213.

"And who is he?"

"Tai Kotone of course."

"You should stop kidding. Tai…died years ago…that's not funny Kaji. I thought you two were best friends."

"I assure you, I am not being funny. And Tai and I still are best friends…"

He slid his ID down a slot and typed in a code on the panel beside.

"You know Kaji…Uh, maybe we should _knock_ before entering? Yes?"

"Oh nonsense. I'm sure Tai'll love to see you again. Literally." He grinned bemusedly.

The door slid open. Kaji walked, and Misato followed hesitantly. The room was dark.

"Where's the goddamn light?"

* * *

Tai walked out of the shower, drying his hair with a towel and wrapping another around his waist. 

_Well, that was refreshing…better get back to the bridge…or maybe the mess hall? Yes…the mess hall would be nice…a cup of coffee for lunch…_

Still drying his hair, Tai heard the door open with a faint hiss. When he took the towel away from his face, he saw two dark figures standing in his room and talking. Tai grabbed his Magnum from the drawer beside him and cocked it at the pair.

* * *

Kaji and Misato stared as Tai, in only a bath towel, aimed a menacing gun at them. _Not good._

"TAI PUT THE DAMN GUN DOWN!!! IT'S ME, KAJI!"

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, uncomprehendingly.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!!!!!!!"

"Ah Tai, I can explain."

"MISATO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM? KAJI YOU JACKASS!!!!!!!"

After five more furious minutes of yelling, Tai finally got changed and they sat on his bed, chatting.

"Misato, Misato, Misato...after ten confused years or living in hell, you are still asbeautiful as ever..."

Kaji proceeded to cough loudly. Misato ignored both opinions.

"Tai…I had a heart attack when I heard you were killed in a car accident. That was a really mean stunt to pull off."

"It was funny though. I never thought you cared that much for me. But then I saw you at the funeral and you were crying your eyes out…(wait…what was that about a car accident?)"

"You what!?"

"I was the guy in the hat and shades." He ran his hand through his hair. "I wasn't supposed to be killed in a car accident...I was killed by some SEELE security guards...actually I killed them when they tried to dispose of my body, heh. ironically I had to dispose of theirs..."

Kaji grinned, "Really? You look pretty good with a ponytail."

Misato just kept on looking at Tai with misty eyes. Tai stared back quizzically.

"Kat…stop it …you're scaring me."

"I…thought you were actually dead. The only other time I felt that bad was when Kaji and I parted." At that point she threw her arms around Tai neck, crying, and hugged him. They tumbled off the bed. Kaji eyed the two with amusement. _Why does this look so familiar…?_

"Oww oww…Kat, you're choking me…"

"Oh sniff, sorry." She released Tai from her stranglehold of steel and sat on the floor.

Rubbing his neck, Tai said, "Well, it's good to see you again."

"How did you find us though?"

"Kaji told me."

"How did you find me?" Interjected Kaji.

"I was stalking the guy who was supposed to kill you."

"Interesting."

Misato then asked, "What were you doing all these years?"

"I was already part of the GLA before I enrolled at your college. The car accident (they really said I died in the car accident? …Makes me look like a drunk…) was just to make people think I was dead. I went and enrolled in three different other colleges after that. I did some other miscellaneous stuff between the years…acquired some new skills. Yeah it was amusing though."

Misato just sat there in some kind of stupor. Her hand reached up to her cross to play with it, except it wasn't there. She jerked out of her stupor and said, "My cross! I…I've lost it."

They looked at her. Tai scratched his head.

"I don't think it was with you when I fished you out of the water at NERV…"

Kaji then said soothingly, "Don't worry, I'm sure we can get another one."

"No…the one I lost, was given to me by my…my father…"

"The leader of the Katsuragi Expedition, ja?"

"…Yes…"

* * *

Rei walked down the street. _I thought I had seen him go by here…_

A voice came from behind her, "Rei Ayanami…is that correct?"

Rei wheeled around in alarm. The boy at class was standing there, with his arms crossed. Rei didn't say anything. He had a relaxed front, and was leaning against a street light. A smile covered his face

"Come now, how 'bout a greeting or introduction of sorts. Why so cold?"

"I believe someone sent you from SEELE, correct?"

"…Yes, I'm here from SEELE. You're quite the observant one…no less than what I'd expect of the First, eh? They wish to know whether or not you and the other pilots are willing to cooperate…"

_SEELE again?_

Ignoring this, Rei asked, "Where have we met before? I've seen your face some where…"

"We met in the lab thirteen years ago. You also saw me briefly at the construction of the NERV HQ. Heh, not really a meeting, as we were both still in diapers."

"So you are not human either…"

"No, I was just brought to the lab they held you in by my father. But don't worry, you're just as human as I am."

Rei frowned at him. "Is that so? …I guess that means you're only part human then, as I am…"

"Why yes, and no…would you care to join me for a walk?"

"No."

She turned and continued walking. She didn't dare look back, as though afraid to see what he would do.

John Travis stood at the top of the hill on the sidewalk, watching Rei disappear into the depth of the city. _Interesting girl…that Rei Ayanami…it'll be a pleasure to work with her. Now about the others…_

He turned and walked back to the school. But then, he stopped.

_But…if the rumors are true…then I should be able to awaken her, capabilities…now.

* * *

_

About a hundred miles away, on the coast, the escapee subs were traveling up alongside Japan.

In the mess hall, several of the Vanguard leaders (apart from Takeda, who was still on the bridge) had gathered at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. Col. Rick O' Neele, Maj. Kairi Megumi, Capt. Shaun Blackshire, and Flight leader Sai Kurama (the other G-suit pilots and officers) were sipping coffee and hot chocolate while discussing the past and present. Hogan and Matt were digging into plates of bacon and eggs, the others, with the exception of Tai, were conversing rapidly, discussing what they would do after the reached the nearest GLA base. Tai was sleeping with his head on his arm, with a mug of hot chocolate in front of him. Li-Chan was trying to stay awake, but kept on nodding off here and there when the conversation moved away from her.

"The Vanguard has been decimated. GLA will probably divide what remains of our section to the other divisions." Stated Kairi, in a hollow monotone voice.

"They wouldn't dare, we're their top unit."

"Not any more…"

"I wonder how command wing will react to our defeat and the destruction of Vanguard HQ," mused Shaun. "They ought to get a kick out of it…those geezers…"

"Bu' ill', e-"

"Hogan! Talk with your mouth full!"

"Ah 'em"

"I mean, not with your mouth full! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!DAMMIT I NEED TO GET SOMESLEEP!!!"

"Try getting a life first." this remark by Rick drew a laugh form the others. "Oh yeah, and what happened to your face, Hogan?"

Hogan swallowed, and said, "I tripped...anyways, we have enough of a force to be considered one group…division…or battalion at least…don't we?"

Li-Chan said with her face still in her arms, "We're as good as gone. We have 22 MCV's, 14 superiority fighters, not including Hogan's and the Shadow Squadron, no MAS, and no base of operations. The GLA will probably call us officers together again to reform the Shadow Hunter assassin group with the other operatives. We still have 6 Gear fighters though."

"We lost a lot of men though..."

Matt looked at a sleepy Li-Chan across from his plate and asked, sporting a roguish grin, "When Tai told you to go to sleep, did you actually listen?"

Beside him, Tai jerked awake, spilling his hot chocolate. Everyone looked at him in alarm.

"What do you mean I told her to get some sleep!?"

"Yesterday, remember? It was right before she ki-"

Crack! Everyone at the tables groaned, "Owww…" as Tai proceeded to whack Matt with a blunt object: his hot chocolate mug. After knocking Matt out, Tai glared at Hogan, who grinned sheepishly and shook his head, mouthing the words, "It wasn't me."

Tai's eyes appeared to have gone out of focus, as he was swaying as if he was drunk.

"Okay, everyone please continue their conversation, and wa-"

He slumped forward unto the table in mid-sentence.

Rick, another G-suit pilot, tapped Tai gingerly on the head.

"I think he fell asleep again. Out of everything he faces, he succumbs to "

Hogan, at that moment, started laughing again. By now, half of the mess hall was eyeing them with amusement.

Kurama sipped at his coffee studying Li-Chan and Tai benignly.

"Tsk Tsk…we are the tired."

Kairi then slumped forward, as if knocked out by an invisible hammer.

Shaun ventured, "I think she's asleep too," as he prodded her with his spoon.

Rick snorted loudly in his bowl of cereal.

"Stop that. Let her sleep."

"Of course…(mister mom!)"

"Die faggot!"

"Bite me! …ARGHH HE BIT ME!!!"

"I'm sitting on the other side of the table, retard! It wasn't me!"

* * *

Shinji sat in class. _November and it's still so hot…_He looked around the room. Toji was reading a magazine under his desk. Asuka was checking her e-mail. Aida was also checking his e-mail. At least it looked like it. Shinji craned his neck to the side. No…Aida was not checking his e-mail. It looked as though he was hacking into his dad's files again…_interesting_. He then looked at Rei, except that she wasn't there. _Huh?_

"Mr. Ikari, could you please read your essay's introduction on nuclear fission.?"

"What? Oh yeah, sure."

* * *

Rei walked along the shoreline of the ocean. The wind blew a blue strand of hair into her. Brushing it back, she stared at the horizon, as though expecting something… 

Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable, as though some one was watching her.

"Why are you following me?"

"I'm just interested in you, that's all."

John Travis walked to her side.

"Are you willing to assist SEELE?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"SEELE, is an evil organization."

"Didn't think you'd to be so melodramatic."

"I was being frank."

She heard a click, and the next thing she knew, Travis was holding a gun to her head.

"Know this, Rei, if you join SEELE, you will be doing a great thing to the world. As an Eva pilot, such as myself, you will help restore peace to the remnants of humanity. But if you insist on turning me down, I have orders to kill you and the other pilots who don't agree. I wouldn't want to be the cause of the death of such a beautiful girl as you…or your…eh, how should we put it…your friends maybe?"

_No…I don't want any part of this…this…is too much…what if one of us actually dies…we can't die any more!? _Something was building up inside of her,_ NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!_

Suddenly, a wave of anger and confusion shattered something inside of Rei, a restraint, a wall, untouched for years…without her thinking, her arm involuntarily snapped up and wrenched the pistol upward and twisted, making Travis dropped the pistol. Travis, instead of looking surprised, looked as though his birthday had came early. As Reikicked aside the gun, he brought up his leg in a sweep to knock her off her feet. But Rei instinctively leapt up, planted a hand on Travis's shoulder,and flipped over his head.

_What am I doing…_

John swerved around and fired off a series of rapid kicks. Rei moved in a smooth, fluid motion, avoiding all the kicks and spinningup beside Travis.

_How am I doing this…_

Her fist rocketed into Travis' stomach, causing him to grunt in pain, just as she brought her foot up and kicked him viciously in the jaw. He recovered fast though, and spun around, bringing up his right foot in a roundhouse kick, which Rei narrowly avoided byjerking backwards. But this was what Travis had waited for, as he used the momentum of his kick to bring his left foot about and drove it into Rei's stomach, sending her tumbling backward, landing in the middle of the deserted road.

She instinctively threw herself up by thrusting her legs quickly into the air and launching herself up. Back on her feet, Rei intuitively adopted a fighting stance which was completely unknown to her before. _It's all...how do I?…_ It was like a wall in her mind and cracked, and some of the secrets it was imprisoning had leaked out. _How do I know this?…It's coming naturally yet I don't remember anything about studying martial arts…_

Travis ran up to her and feinted and jab to the left of her head, expecting her to block, but Rei threw her left foot out and spun neatly under the feint and upon coming back up, she grabbed his outstretched hand and attempted to flip him off his feet forward onto his back. Travis, acting swiftly, went along with the grapple and landed on his feet. He then reversed the grapple and flipped Rei sideways and thrust the palm of both hands into Rei's side, while she was still in the air.

Rei flew back several feet, to land painfully on the street pavement. She could feel her blood dripping down her arm from a gash, but instead of feeling pain, she felt another wave of anger.Travis rushed at her and leapt into a jump kick. Rei yanked her head to the side and grabbed his ankle. She then spun him around twice and hurled him at a nearby bench. In midair, Travis flipped around and placed a hand on the bench and landed behind it on his feet. Rei stared at him hands shaking. _H-how…did I do that…? How did I know all that? Who…am I…really…?_.

"Well, that was certainly amusing. I bow to your skills, Rei Ayanami. They really did train you well. Pity they made you an Evangelion pilot instead. I look forward to our next duel."

And with that, he left. Rei fell to her knees, her arms hanging limply beside her. _What's wrong with me?

* * *

_

Asuka sat on the couch watching TV, absentmindedly-stroking Pen-Pen (he's a penguin which Misato had kept for a pet. Not just your average pet though). She wasn't really paying much attention to the TV though.

"Hey Shinji, how much longer to dinner?"

"It'll be done when it's done!!"

Shinji, meanwhile, was slaving away in the kitchen. _Why doesn't she help me cook? She's the girl _here, thought Shinji, as he furiously chopped up some potatoes,_…at least Misato did some cooking…though her cooking nearly killed me 'n Pen-Pen…_

He smiled, as he remembered cleaning rust off a knife with Misato's curry. Ritsuko had found it frankly amusing and had asked what Misato had used for ingredients. But then he felt cold, remembering that they were both dead.

He then called out, "Hey Rei, could you give me a hand?"

He heard Asuka answer, "Shinji you idiot, she hasn't returned yet. That was like the first time she played hooky in class."

Shinji dropped the knife, which clattered on the counter.

"What!? She hasn't returned yet…?"

At that moment, the door opened, and Rei walked into the living room.

"Wow Rei, thanks for knocking. Where the hell were _you_!?"

Rei ignored Asuka and headed straight for her (formerly Shinji's) room.

Shinji walked out of the kitchen, still wearing an apron.

"Huh? Rei? Where are you going? (why are your clothes so dirty?)"

She turned to him and answered in a monotone whisper, "I'm sorry, I don't feel well right now…" And with that, she disappeared into the room, leaving Shinji and Asuka to wonder what was happening.

* * *

Shinji quietly opened the door to his room. It was about midnight. He squinted his eyes, unaccustomed to the darkness. He saw Rei sitting by the wall. She was hugging her legs to herself and waslying her head on her knees. Shinji quietly crept over to her. He looked at her face, which was obscured by several strands of her blue-tinged hair. As Shinji looked on, a single sparkling tear slid down her face and landed on he knee. _Wha…? She's crying in her sleep…I've only seen Asuka do that…_

He moved silently to her side and knelt down. He hesitantlygrabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently.

"Rei…hey…Rei, wake up…"

She lifted her head and looked at Shinji. Her eyes seemed unfocused, though it was hard to tell in the darkness of the room.

"Ikari?"

"Rei, why were you gone this afternoon? You scared the heck out of us back there…"

She looked at him with her eyes. "I have my…reasons. I…needed some time alone…"

Shinji sat down next to her against the wall. "Rei…we're your friends. We'd like to know what's going on."

"Shinji, you do what I am right? By now, someone must have told you, or you should have figured it out by now…"

"Yes, you're a good friend...and the First Child." _Did she just call me by my first name? _

"No…I mean, I-I'm…n-not…e-en-entirely" she _started_ stammering and her voice became a hoarse whisper, "human…I'm…what we had been fighting against…the enemy…" She said this as if it was a crime. Several teardrops ran down her face. Shinji began panicking._ S-she's crying!!! What do I do? Ahhh...darn this is like the first time I've seen her cry!!!_

Shinji looked at her, thinking back to when Ritsuko had shown him and Misato, and destroyed shortly afterwards, all of the Rei clones. He shivered at that thought, which had brought him many a sleepless night. He had been struggling with that fact as well and hadn't told Asuka or the others. _Now, come to think of it, how did Rei come out of the Third Impact alive, if all of her…clones were…killed. Was there really the Third Impact? There was a huge explosion..._

Shinji looked at her. She had literally been "killed" two times. She knew how it felt do die, and at that, painfully. A sudden wave of sorrow and compassion towards Rei enveloped him. He had felt this before, shortly before they tackled the5th Angel together. They had been pouring out their views on life, as well as feelings about their own personallives.

"Rei…I don't believe that you are not human. Though your body, isn't your…original one, your mind, soul, and heart still are." He smiled at her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "But I respect and lo-, I-I mean, like you for who you are." His heart had practically jumped into his throat when he almost said the "L" word. He felt hotblood rushing to his head as his face began to burn with embarrassment.

"Ikari-kun, what I...meant was…well… that…I am not…human…entirely. I mean, not just that I am…"

Shinji looked at Rei blankly for a couple of seconds, his brain trying to work out what he had just heard. Then it hit him. He thought back to the time when he had tried to look up Rei's background on the NERV database, but, all he found, was practically a dead end to begin with. He then remembered about over hearing something about Rei being created, or brought into existence, and her connection to his deceased mother (which was the reason for her link to his father)and the Instrumentality Project.

_She_ was part Angel. He stared at her for a moment, his mouthing opening, but not making a sound. Rei avoided his eyesight and looked at the floor beside her. Shinji realized, that she had faced the aspect of fighting what was part of her, which was quite mind racking for the average fourteen-year old to think about. He felt even worse, for not having spotted it earlier.

"Rei…so…you are…well, or have the genes of an Angel?"

She nodded weakly.

"I'm sorry…Ikari-kun…"

Without thinking, Shinji just opened his mouth and poured out his mind once more.

"What's there to be sorry for? It wasn't your fault. Human or not, you're still my friend…and nothing will change that. A friend will like you for who you are, not what you are. Anyways, I think it's pretty cool, that you have the genes of an Angel. That's why you have blue hair and red eyes, right? Well…I think your eyes, are, well…um…quite beautiful." He said the last word in a rather embarrassed sort of way. _Dang…just a little too much_. He could feel his cheeks burning.

She looked at him, her somber, crimson eyes searching him. Shinji felt as though they were actually looking into his soul, searching him. Those piercing-red eyes had before given him nightmares, but now, they were friendly and trusting.

_Darn…that last comment was a little too far…_

"Ah maybe I sounded kinda' strange…right?" he ventured sheepishly.

To his surprise, she smiled at him and whispered, almost inaudibly, "Arigato gonzaimasu, Ikari-kun." But Shinji heard it loud and clear. Her face shone visibly with happiness. _Wow...she really has changed..._

She put her hand over his hand. It was Shinji's turn to stare. Rei's face now seemed even more ethereal in the dim light from the hallway. _She's really…cute…especially…when she…smiles..., _thought Shinji (very relieved that no one could read his mind), now smiling back and again blushing furiously, and hoping she wouldn't notice in the darkened room. He then felt something wet dripping onto his shirt sleeve. He looked down, and could easily make out, even in the darkened room, a spot of rapidly expanding red. Only then did he notice the carpet between them was stained ruby-red with blood. His eyes widened in alarm, and looked at the source: there was a steady line of blood trickling down from Rei's arm.

"Rei! You're bleeding!"

She looked drowsily at him. Her eyes suddenly seemed to be glazed over again, unfocused. She was suffering from the ill effects of blood loss. _Why the hell...?_

"It's…only a scratch..."

"No it's not! How long have you been like this!?"

_Oh god._

He gingerly took her hand and pulled her arm into the light.

"You call that a scratch? It looks like someonegashed open your arm with a iron hook"

"It doesn't hurt…much…you need not concern yourself."

Shinji quickly got up and said, "I don't think so. Stay right here, I'll go get some bandages."

"Okay..."

_She's probably going to pass out from blood loss_, he thought, as he took another glance at the eerie puddle of blood which had formed on the carpet floor. _Gotta hurry!_

End chp. 5

After the Show 5 !!

The curtains close. Shinji and Rei walk on stage to the cheers of many.

Shinji: Thanks for all your support!!

Rei: Yes...and please come back for the next chapter in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Revelations...

Shinji: Actually, any comments? Questions?

"You two are a great couple!!!"

"Yeah!"

Shinji tugs uncomfortably on his collar. Rei is unaffected.

Shinji: Yeah...okay (he quickly sneaks a glance at Rei). Uh moving on...anything else?

"Yeah...why didn't you kiss her?"

Shinji: Uh...(blushes furiously)

Toji walks onto the stage and places a hand on Shinji's shoulder.

Toji: 'Cus he's probably gonna hit on her anyways later...really hard (winks at Shinji)

Shinji: WHAA!!!?? (Shinji is still changing colors)

Rei is still impassive. But then suddenly she smiles slightly, drawing a roar from the male half of the audience.

FireDragonBL walks onto the stage nursing a broken arm.

BL: Hello people! I'm back, after some daring exploits in the US and Franceand a brush with death.

Someone behind the curtains coughs loudly.

BL: Yeah anyways...thanks for reading

Shinji stares at BL.

Shinji: I-I thought I killed you!?

BL: Oh, so you didused Unit-01 to kill my clone? (he grins) Interesting! Misato must have put you up to it though...

Distant booming is heard.

Kaji jumps on stage and walks over to BL. He whispers something in his ear.

BL: SHE WHAT!!!!?

Kaji: Uh...people show is over because Misato hit the bar kinda hard...and I wouldn't want to endanger your lives any further. So goodnight!!

"Wait!!! We want to see Shinji kiss Rei!!!!"

Shinji turns from pink to crimson red.

Rei: I apologize, but we are out of time today. Please come back again. (Rei walks off stage, soon followed by a blushing Shinji and a hysterically-laughing Toji). BL exits through the opposite side

Audience wincestogetheras another loud explosion is heard.

Tai jumps on stage. He has a bandage over one of his eyes.

Tai: Bye people...Misato's about a hundred yards away and is currently blowing up vending machines with a shotgun. She will be here in about twenty seconds.

audience jumps up and mobs the exits.

The recently repaired wall is once again blown open by a drunken Misato. She is toting an empty bottle along with a smokingmini-missile rack.

Kaji looks at Tai.

Kaji: A shotgun, eh?

Tai: That was what I last saw her with...that'a irrelevant let's get out of here before she tries to shoot you again.

Kaji: Sounds good.

The two of them run off the stage.

"Are they gone yet?"

Misato: Yeah.

Ritsuko emerges from the missile-made entrance.

Ritsuko: Good...Okay girls, area is cleared!!!

A mob of girls storm through the hole in the wall acrrying portable refrigerators, huge amps, a DJ set up, and dance lights.

"PARTY!!!"

* * *

-meanwhile, outside the theater. 

Tai: I don't don't hear anymore explosions...do you?

BL: No... (starts eating a burger he conjured into existence)

Tai: please stop that...it's just so unfair...

Kaji: Wait! I hear music!

The three stand at the mouth of the entrance and place their ears on the door.

Kaji: Yeah...definitely music...sounds kinda like Dance Dance Revolutions doesn't it?

BL: I love DDR!!!

Tai: Is that Maya and Li-Chan?

He points at thetwo girls. The girls enter the side of the alley.

Tai:...?

BL: ...?

Kaji:...?

The three follow Maya and Li-Chan, hiding behind dumpsters and garbage bins. the two girls enter through the hole in the wall Misato had made. The three guys quickly move to the edge of the hole and peer over the side.

Kaji: Ohmigod...

BL: TH3R3'5 B33R 1N H3R3!!!!

Tai:...interesting...never thought Maya was the party type...but I was right about her not drinking...

Kaji: Wow she really does have friends...

Tai coughs and jabs an elbow into Kaji's ribs.

Kaji: OW!! I meant Misato retard!!

BL: OH CRAP THEY'VE SEEN US!!

Kaji: RUN FOR IT!!!

BL and Kaji streak out of the alley and into the night screaming.

"ARGH THEY GOT TAI!!!"

"JUST KEEP RUNNING!!!"

* * *

Tai finds himself at a huge party. Dance music is echoing through the theater. Ritsuko walks over to him 

Ritusko: So Tai, you want a drink?

Tai: Sure, soda please... (she hands him a soda out of a portable refrigerator) thanks...

Misato: Ritsuko, why didn't you tell me you invited Tai?

Ritsuko: I didn't...he just appeared outside the hole you 've been worse...Kaji might'vecome along with that BL guy. From what I heard, he can make things appear randomly...I also heard that you had Shinji step on him with Unit-01...

End ATS 5


	6. Chp 6 The Acquaintance

hello people. BL here...thx for all the reviews so far...but I REQUIRE MORE, heh. (well at least more descriptive ones...)

ok chp 6 is about how Tai met Maya and so and so...flashback...yeah really short compared to last chp...if ur lucky i might make the next one funny too...(**evil laugh)**...didn't feel like continuing from last chp...wanted to make u people wait!!!muahahahahaha!!! **Cough cough hack **...just kidding...thought i needed to clarify the connection between Tai and Maya...as well as some daring exploits of Tai on a college campus...

just so the flamerz know...the third impact really did not happen...in this story...yet

enjoy

Chp. 6 The Acquaintance

Tai walked down the lamp-lit streets on the outskirts of Tokyo 3. _Haven't been here in a while…_

He had told Takeda to go on to the GLA HQ without him. He would disembark south of Tokyo 3 and go there for some "private business". He could remember Misato arguing that she should go to check on the Children. He reminded her that she was listed as "Deceased" in the personal databases (he had conveniently forgotten to remind her that he himself was also on the "Deceased" list as well, after the "accident" ten years ago). He promised to check up on them for her. _"I'm not a babysitter..."_

Tai was wearing a black turtleneck and a pair of matching tan-colored plants. He was also carrying a backpack containing some items he felt he would need. Tai had actually gotten two hours of sleep on the sub, which he hoped would last him for a bit. _Still need caffeine...someone went through my caffeine pills...feel soooo weak..._

Previously Tai had been searching his cabin for his hidden stash of caffeine, which consisted pills, ground coffee beans, coffee mixes, and various carbonated drinks. Tai also had a secret stash of root beer but it had been ransacked by Hogan _(how the hell did Hogan, of all people, hack hisway into my cabin_?). Tai usually relied on them to help him concentrate and stay awake. This led to frequent hangovers, but he was used to them now.

Unfortuantely for Tai, someone (plural in this case actually)had gone through and taken all his caffeinated substances. He frantically searched for a couple of hours (which he could have spent sleeping, but he was too worried about his caffeine stock). As it turned out, Hogan, Matt, Shaun, and Rick had hacked into his cabin panellock and raided his supply of caffeine. many personnel noted that they "exhibited many varying degrees of jumpiness andperformed random pychotic acts". Fortunately, no one was hurt. Tai wasted another hour trying to catch them, but they had planed ahead and had hidden themselves across the expansive levels of the main sub. They somehow mangaged to accomplish this while high on caffeine. _They are so fscking dead when I find them!!!_

Tai had almost immediately gone to an empty room and proceeded to bang his head for the next ten minutes. Li-chan found him and managed to drag his unconscious body to the medibay. She was screaming into her comsat for security, that an intruder had accessed the sub and attempted to assassinate Tai. CommanderTakeda nearly had a heart attck ("Damn it, where's the damn SECURITY!!! **Cough COUGH HACK WHEEZE** ugh...getting too old for this...someone get me a cup of water and the ass in charge of SECURITY!!!").

Tai woke up shortly after the incident and explained the whole thing to an anxious Li-chan. Li-chan was last seen searching the corridors of the sub for the caffeinated officers with a tazer. Tai grinned at the thought. _But I can't really feel sorry for them...heh..._

He scanned the contents of a window store amusedly, as he watched people come and go out of the corners of his eyes. _I haven't been here...since...forever...i've seen this place through cameras...but the changes are so much more prominent when seen first-hand._

_Hmmm...so this is Tokyo-3...Everything's apparently been modernized and apparently rebuilt ever since the coming of SEELE and NERVE HQ. Who ever desgined the layout must've lived in a box... _Tai speculated. _Ought to be fun finding my way around here again…that's how I met up with Maya…_

He thought back to that hot summer day…

* * *

Seven years ago, shortly before the Second Impact 

-Original Tokyo

Tai walked around the corner, running and weaving through the crowd. A short distance away, several men wearing black suits, shades, and earphones were chasing him. Tai sprinted past a streetlight and into the busy street, narrowly dodging a honking van. _Can't cause a commotion in public, have to get rid of them without any fatalities…_

Hethrew himself into the air, his body sand rolled over the top of a speeding Toyota. He looked behind him. _They've disappeared…_

He stopped and looked around. _It's rather hot isn't it...?_ The buildings seemed to wilt under the heat. He pushed up his glasses with a finger, as a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek. He suudenly caught a glimpse of movenmentin his peripheral vision. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted several shadows moving swiftlyamong the crowd. He quickly tensed his muscles, waiting for the men to stop. They halted several dozen yards away.

Tai immediately ran to the left and made a sharp turn into an alley. His heart pounding, he ran towards the end of the alley, which was an 8 ft steel wall. He quickly leaprt up, aiming to jumpkick off the wall over the fence. But before, a shot rang out from behind, and Tai felt a sharp pain in his rightarm. _It's no use, I have to use force_. As Tai thrust his arm into the depths of his jacket, another shot rang out and Tai collapsed to the floor as a bullet struck him in the back. His glasses clattered to the ground beside him. Breathing hard, he struggled to get to his feet, but he only succeeded in getting a bullet in his leg. He collapsed onto his right arm, which had already been shot. He gasped in pain. But he had managed to draw out his small pistol. _I didn't want to resort to this, but…you won't leave, will you?_

"Terrorist, you are under arrest by the SEELE Security Agency, for the murder and assassination of several government officials. Stay on the ground, or I will have to shoot you."

_Good, there's only one of them…thought there were two?_

"Put your hand on your head."

_Your head will soon have a fscking hole in it, fool._

Tai made as if to push himself up, but instead quickly rolled to the right. In the same smooth motion he brought the pistol up and fired it at the SEELE security guard. The bullet struck the SEELE man right between the eyes. He collapsed backward. Tai got up slowly, gingerly putting some weight on the injured leg. Tai silently thanked Takeda for reminding him to put on a bulletproof vest under his shirt before he started his mission. _Now all I have to deal with are an injured arm and crippled leg…sounds like fun_.

He bent down and picked up the guard's gun. _Not bad, this is pretty heavy stuff_. He stowed it into his jacket along with some clips he found after rummaging through the guard's suit. Before he went out of the alley, he flipped around his coat, revealing that his coat was two sided and also wrapped up his wounds to stop the bleeding.

Tai dropped his sunglasses and the bloodstained bullets he had fished out of the wounds into a nearby trashcan and put in some blue-shaded contacts. _Hope no one notices the blood-stained pants_, he thought ironically, looking at his dirtyred-tinged pants. _Talk about setting a fashion statement…I look like a…never mind…don't want to go into it_. He then took out a small cylinder spray can. It contained yellow highlights. H_uh...the things I do for this job...I never had any desire to become blonde...hmph I look European..._

After screwing around with his hair, Tai, looking quite different from when he had ran into the alley, walked out of it and into the bustling streets of Tokyo, limping quite heavily on one foot. _Damn foot..._

* * *

Maya, holding half a dozen books in her arms and carrying two book bags, ran down the street, running through crowds of people. _I'm going to be late! I'm going to miss the train!!_ She had a piece of pastry clamped tightly between her teeth (her lunch, and humorously enough, it was four in the afternoon). 

She ran past a bookstore at an intersection and ran around the corner…and ran into young man who happened to be sprinting down from the other side of the corner. Her books tumbled to the ground as she fell over. She winced before she hit the ground, but she didn't.

The young man had grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back up onto her feet while he fell instead. She saw that the man's coat had torn above the elbow and was bleeding quite heavily. She opened her mouth to apologize, but the young man swiftly leapt up and apologized first, saying, "Gomen nasai, Miss. I was in…a rush to get somewhere."

He smiled at her, one that had a sort of dazzling, charming effect to it. She then noticed that the young man was actually rather good-looking. He also had deep, blue eyes which reminded her of the open sea and messy blonde hair, which was messygave him the appearance of a sports star. his appearance made him look foreign, but he sounded native when he spoke. "Again, my apologies. Here… allow me to help you."

Maya opened her mouth to say that it was her fault and that he didn't need to apologize, but he again reacted faster than she did. In a smooth motion he bent down and swept the books and the two bags up in an almost-casual manner. He handed the two bags to her, but held onto the books. Maya stuttered as she looked at his friendly,smiling face. She could feel her face growing hot (and very red), as she stammered, "Th-thank you. But I-it w-wasn't your f-fault. I-I w-wasn't paying attention t-to where I was going…" She looked at his torn sleeve. "I'm really sorry about that…"

"Don't worry, it was already ripped and bleeding. I tripped while rushing in the last city block." He then added, "Oh, of course…we haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Tai…Tai Kotone…and you?"

"Oh, uh, my n-name is Maya Ibuki."

"Maya…that's a beautiful name. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you…Maya." He bowed politely to her. Maya flushed even more at that.

* * *

Tai walked along side Maya, his arm clutching her books. His elbow was telling his brain that it was falling apart. _Crap…that fall tore up the bandages…Damn, these books weigh a decent amount…she doesn't seem like the type to be carrying so much stuff around…_. He looked at her. She was apparently a very shy person. But she seemed friendly enough. _But hey…she's pretty cute_. She peeked at him, and when she saw Tai looking, she gave a short gasp and quickly looked at the ground ahead of her. He frowned. _But she's rather shy...just a little, heh._

Tai had insisted on accompanying her to her college seminar, even though he was supposedly "in a rush". She had tried to convince Tai that he should really go and do his "business", but Tai, a very convincing person himself (usually), got her to let him go with her to her university. Walking through the crowd, Tai said a greeting, here and there, to random people.

A group of high school girls walked by, and Tai smiled and nodded a greeting to them, they immediately all started giggling and whispering to each other in excited voices. _Huh…really not that good with girls though…truth is I really suck at that…can't, never have asked anyone out, heh…Kaji, on the other hand, has flirted with every girl within two years of his graduating class…maybe I should see if I can contact him…ask for advice ya know..._

Maya continued walking quietly beside him. Frankly perturbed by her quiet demeanor, Tai tried to start a conversation.

"So, you live here?"

"Um, no. My parents live in the US. We used to live here. I came backhere for college and graduate school."

"Oh…" _They live in the US?_

"…"

"Well how old are you?"

"Huh? Oh I-I'm 17."

He smiled, "Oh, I'm nineteen. I'm also going to a college near here."

They continued walking side by side through the street. _Urg, my arm is killing me !_ Suddenly he stopped cold. What he saw sent a chill down his spine. Four black-suited SEELE agents were walking in their direction. They were like robots, their faces void of emotion, as the scanned the crowd around them.

"Um…Tai? What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Oh nothing…" He continued walking. He knew that if they saw through his disguise, he was a sitting duck. He couldn't risk attacking them first due to all the people around him, including Maya. Only only several people separated them now. He quickly flipped open the top book and began to read. _Accelerated Quantum Physics Theory…Volume VII??? And she's 18…_

His eyes flicked over to the agents briefly, before returning to the book. One of them scanned his face as they passed. He bumped into Maya, who hopped backwards on one foot. He quickly reached a hand out to steady her.

"Thanks."

"No problem…they weren't being very polite now were they…?"

She smiled at him for the first time. "No, not really."

"You know, you're pretty cute when you smile…"

She flushed red and immediately looked down at her book bag. Tai scratched his head in confusion. _Well, it worked every time Kaji said it…_

Ten minutes later, they were sitting side by side on the subway train. Maya had stuttered a small thank you, when it became apparent that she had forgotten her purse in her apartment, so Tai had paid for the both of them. The fading lights danced across the two of them, as the train passed under and over a series bridges.

"So what college do you go to?"

"Oh, I go to Yushimura."

"Really? That's the one I'm transferring to."

"Really?"

"Yeah…big coincidence, _ja_??"

She smiled and nodded.

"Well why aren't you living on campus?"

"Oh, the apartment is only temporary. I'll move to the campus in a week or two. You are really going to…Yushimura?" She said the last word slowly; to make sure Tai hadn't misheard.

"Yes. Which is why I'm _accompanying_ you back."

"Oh…" she flushed pink again, "Sorry!"

"Why are you apologizing?" he grinned at her

* * *

After seeing her to the door of her seminar, Tai walked down a, empty hallway. The floor was spotless and waxed, as if it had just been cleaned minutes ago. _Heh, I can see my reflection_. Ironically enough, he didn't notice that blood was dripping down his arm and leaving a bright red trail of crimson flecks and droplets. Stopping at a large, towering window, he looked outside. The courtyard below was filled with students chatting and typing away on laptops. There were dozens of little flower patches scattered around the spacious clearing, adding little blots of color and beauty. _Fun place...definitely more than a couple notches above Sarahishiki...Yushimura is one of the top schools in Japan..._

He smiled as he walked on, still oblivious to the fact that he was making the floors a mess with his blood.

"Oi! You there!"

Tai turned around slowly. The first thing he noticed was that he was dripping blood. _Oh...crap..._

"Are you supposed to be in a class or something? Did you get in a fight?"

The next thing Tai noticed was that a girl about his age was standing a couple feet away and glaring at him, all the while tapping her foot on on a patch of floor that had not been flecked with blood.

Tai opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, as though he had forgot completely.

"Well? You've got a lot of explaining to do since you're wandering the halls. Do you have a pass?"

Tai smiled at her. "No...I'm sorry. I don't" _I could try Kaji's method out of this..._

He flashed another smile, which he hoped was "charming". He took a step toward her.

"Well...I had a small accident...you know."he continued walking taowards her slowly,"I needed to go to the nurse's office..."  
_"Remember to stare down your target with a flashy smile, and walk toward her slowly, almost casually..."_ Tai repeated the steps Kaji had taught him in college for such situations.

"Wahhh! D-Do you have a p-pass?" She retreated a step, blushing furiously.

Tai made a mental note to than Kaji for his training in the art of "charming" the opposite. _Wow, it really does work! Sick!!! She's blushing!!! Fear my new technique!!_

"I'm new here...do you think you could kindly direct me to the nurse's office?"

"U-Uh..." she stared at her feet. "I'll take y-you there..."

He followed he queitly as she led him down halls and turns and several flights of stairs. _Where's that damn elevator...my leg is killing me..._

"Um...t-this is the N-Nurse's Office...um...well, good-bye."

"Good-bye. It was nice meeting you..."

"Ah Misashi...Misashi Anuruko."

"Yes...It was nice meeting you...Anuruko-san...tank you for pointing me to the nurse..." He smiled.

"You're welcome..."She bowed politely and quickly ran away.

Tai breathed a sigh of relief. _I really am not good with girls...that was all by the book...**cough.**_

Slowly, he opened the door a crack, peering into the room. _Hmm, looks like the nurse is gone...don't think she'll mind if I...patch myself up?_

He tiptoed over to the window and looked outside, before striding over the medicine cabinet. _Need some new coverings and disinfectants..._

Quickly, hestripped off his jacket and shirt. He examined himself in the mirror on the wall next to. He arm was bloody and slightly mangled. _Hmmmlooks like I twisted it again...broke the bone to boot too..._

With a sickening crack, he gripped his elbow and deftly jerked from one side, then swiftly to thethe other. he winced at teh pain, but he had realigned the broken bone, as well as twisted the whole arm back in place. He took a roll ofsports wrapping and tightly bound the spot where bone had fractured. He was about to wrap his bullet made wound, but he stopped. _I need a bath..._

He bit his lip, but then the idea struck him. He would break into the men's locker room in the university's Sports Complex.

He pondered over the brilliant idea while examining the other medicine cabinet, whistling the tune of a song he had written in his spare time.

At that moment...

* * *

Miss Yuishi Nome was the nurse of the university campus, and only 25. She was new to the job and had only been here for three days. She signed as she walked back to her office. She had just been called down to one of the Biology classes for another "accident". It was again one of the boys trying to ask her out. She had been called down three times this day, for the same reasons. She brushed her hair back with one hand and turned the doorknob with the other. 

"Such a long day..."

She enteredand to her great surprise, found a young man in the room going through the medicine cabinet. He was not wearing a shirt, and she noticed that his right arm had a wound which looked rather ghastly. She opened her mouth to say something,but the man turned and nearly fell over in shock when he saw her. He stumbled and dropped several bottles of tylenol onto the floor. But he recovered rather quickly, sweeping the bottles up and staacking them neatly back into the cabinet.

"A-ah s-sorry!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I uh, um...a...an...injury?" He showed her the wound on his arm. She noted that he was blushing visibly.

She pursed her lips. _Well, at least he really is injured...and he's kinda cute...but he looks like a foreigner...somewhat..._ she thought.

"Please sit down on the bed."

"Uh, yes, Miss..." He sat down and kept his face down.

She strode over to him and examined his arm. She whistled as she examined the gash on his arm.

"What have you been doing? It looks like someone either shot you or stabbed you with a javelin here. lemme guess...you're one of the Track Team, right?"

"Huh? Ah no..."

"Well, what's your name, first off?"

"Tai..."

"Tai...do you have your student ID?"

"Um, not with me..."

She frowned at him. She walked over to her desk and called up the student body profiles on her computer. The boy quickly jumped up and said, "I-I'm a...f-foreign exchange student!"

"Um, I haven't checked into the office yet..."

She looked at him suspiciously. "What country are you from?"

"Uh, Germany..."he mumbled,avoiding her questioning gaze.

"Germany eh? ...Das ist... interessantaber, Tai ist nicht ein deutscher Name...ist es?"

The young man's head jerked up in surprise. "What? You speak German?"

Yuishi smiled. _I got you there..._

"Sie überraschten mich. Ich dachte nicht, daß jedermann herum hier könnte."

"What?" _My German isn't that good!! So he is German...blonde hair and blue eyes...but his manners are that of a typical Japanese student..._

"Nothing, I was just surprised that you spoke German."

"Well, we need to get that arm of yours to a hospital, the wounds lookpretty deep, and they could be infected."

"I already disinfected it. I just...need to bandage it...that's all..."

She then noticed that his pant leg was ripped and was stained red with blood.

"I see you injured your leg too...you're in no condition to go anywhere." She picked up a phone out of its holder. "I call an ambulance."

"Uh, that was an accident...you really have no need" He quickly threw on his shirt and jacket and headed for the door.

"But you do. I have to advise you to go to the hospital. Those injuries are not to be taken lightly."

"Don't worry, I'm fine." He walked out before she could get another word out. _Hmmm...I should have stopped him._

* * *

Tai walked around the campus. _Interesting girl…Maya Ibuki…pretty, genius, but shy…a little too shy. Humorous…_

He turned and walked into the alley betweena high-tech Sports center and the Equipment shed. And the end of the alley, he came to a wall. He pulled out a cell phone. He dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. A small click sounded, and after several moments,a gruff voice spoke into his ear.

"Operative Darkness? Is that you? What happened? You should've called an hour ago!"

"Sorry, some things came up…"

"Let me guess, you mets ome random bombshell in the administrative complex and couldn't get past her!? It is...isn't it?" Tai immediately blushed and moved uncomfortably. He was relieved that his commander coudn't see him..

"Well n-no...not really...I-I mean..."

"Of all the time and money we spend training you on how to be an operative, you can't talk to girls...heh. So have you at least neutralized the targets?"

"Yes sir…I was being chased by the men from SEELE though…I have sustained some wounds, though I feel fine right now…"

"Good job…you can take a couple weeks off...or until the next mission order...which may be within the next two hours..."

"Thanks chief."

"No problem. And get your wounds checked over…you know we can't afford to lose operatives due to unchecked wounds…the GLA doesn't have as many resources as SEELE but we do have better quality people. Unfortunately we don't have many."

"Ja…" _Heh, I already did. Time for a shower..._

He quickly walked around the building, peering into every window. _Argh this place is so big!_

After fifteen minutes, he believed that he had managed to run two-thirds of the way around the Sports Complex. The next group of windows were set in a narrow length opposite another facility. Tai quickly jumped atop a large, woodencrate and peered into one of the glasses. _Success!!! A showering facility!! _

He gingerly pried open the window with his fingers. _I hope they don't have an alarm system_.... Beforehe threw the window completely open, he noticed a thin wire which snaked along the inner side of the window frame. He grited his teeth and pulled out a pen from his jacket. He pressed a button on the side of the pen, and a needle projected out of the writing tip. He stabbed it into the wire. _This pen will temporarily cause the system to blank out, and will come back on once I take the pen out...leaving no trace that I was here..._

He gently pulled himself into the showering room and lowered himself onto the floor. he looked around the shower room. There were doorless stalls for each one, and he noted with amusement that all the showers were electronically controlled. _There's state-of-the-art for you..._

_

* * *

_

Meanwhile, Maya was sitting in class, listening to the teacher drone on about the molecular structure theories, which she had already understood years before. She hoped that they would finally move onto something new. Scribbling down notes absentmidedly, she thought of that boy she had met only hours ago. He seemed nice, and if luck would have it, they might see each other again, as he said he was comign to this university. She thought about him, how polite he seemed.

"Maya? Why are you blushing?"

"Hmm?"

"You're blushing like crazy...did something happen? Something...like a cute guy perhaps?"

"Whaa!!!??" Maya flushed even more as she dropped her pen, as her friend, Aiko Katabe,giggled.

"Ladies, will you please pay attention?"

"Sorry sensei!!" They chorused.

Pretending to be taking down notes,Aiko ducked her head and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, "So, is he really cute?"

maya jerked a bit and dropped her pen again. "C-Can you please stop asking me that..." She glanced at the teacher, "Anyways we should probably pay attetention...I-I mean we might have a pop quiz tomorrow or somethi-"

"Maya...I know that you've memorized the whole chapter by heart, so you don't need to fret..."

The bell rang the next moment, saving her an answer.

"Class is Dismissed."

"Hey Maya, let's go take a shower?"

"Huh?"

"At the Sports Center, so we can watch the Varsity Baskeball game afterwards! Kimiko, Mia and the others are going too."

"Sure..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Tai was taking a nice, hot shower in one of the locker rooms of the Yushimura University's Sport Complex. _Fortunately, they even provide soap and shampoo...heh...they even have a free towel rack..._ The bell suddenly rang, disrupting his thoughts temporarily, but he ignored it and continued washing himself. The blonde highlights he had dyed his hair with soon washed out. 

His clothing were stacked neatly on the long bench which ran along the center of the room.

Five minutes later, he walked over to the towel rack, feeling much fresherthan he had been for nearly half a week,and wrapped a towel around his waist. He grabbed his clothing and walked into the changing room. He saw something bright pink laying on the ground. _A b-bra...? What in Lord name...is?_ But then he heard it...the unmistakable giggling of a pack of girls in the next room. He nearly dropped his clothes. _Lord have mercy...!!!!!_

He had only been able to pull on his underwear and pants before...

* * *

Maya and her friends had just changed and were now walking towards the shower room. Clutching her towel around herself, she thought about that boy, _Tai...it was Tai wasn't it?_ Beside her, her friends were all giggling and laughing as they talked about the day's events. 

"And guess what? Maya has a boyfriend!!!"

"Really? Do tell us Maya!!?? Is he cute?"

"Does he have brown hair?"

Maya just blushed and stuttered, "H-He's not my b-boyfriend...I just bumped into him in Tokyo downtown...and...that's it." She didn't want them to know that he was coming to Yushimura, or else they'd hunt him down somehow and force hiim to talk to her. On the other hand...the latter didn't seem that bad. She would have liked to meet him again, or at least see him. They turned the corner and walked into the second part of the changing room towards the showers. Maya quickly got her wish. They walked in, and saw...a boy struggling to put his pants on.

"AIEEEEEEEE PERVERT!!!!!"

"OH MOTHER######!!!!!"

* * *

Tai thought he was going to go into cardiac arrest. He, as quickly as he could, before the girls could get a good look at his face, streaked back into the shower room, to the windows, and hauled himself out of the showering facility. In his haste, he happened to knock the pen out of the wire before he had completely wiggled out of the window frame. 

BEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

"Oh Hell NOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

* * *

Three minutes of furious sprinting later, Tai was a safe distance away from the complex and the security. He leaned against a fence, panting heavily and gripping his chest as though fearinghis heart would explode. He just then notice that he had dropped his shirt. He proceeded to smack his head against the nearby wall of the storage building several times. He put on his jacket and zipped it up. _I hope they give you uniforms on your first day...at least I didn't drop my wallet..._ He prayed that they wouldn't ask him to remove his jacket. _Maybe I should go buy a shirt...from the school store..._ He walked away in the direction of the administrative building, wiping water out of his eyes (he had failed to dry his hair en route the escape). 

_

* * *

_

"Oh my god!!!"

"How the hell did a boy get in there?"

"He was pretty cute though...and I think he had just taken a shower...so...yeah."

"Hmmm, if he had gotten in from the window....then maybe he didn't know that this was the girls' locker room."

"I still want to hurt him anyways...I mean why the hell did he have to break in?"

"He had brown hair!"

"What is with you and brown hair?"

"I don't know...I just like boys who have brown hair!!"

"I think the worst part was when he accidentally set off the alarm while getting out and made like half the boys in our school along with teachers run into this locker room...it was mostly all the boys, I think they all came just to-"

"Maya? Are you okay? You look really freaked out...was it the boy? Or the boys...?"

"Huh?" She snapped out of her trance. _Was that...was that Tai? But his hair is blonde, isn't it? _She glanced at Aiko, who was staring at her quizzically.

"Oh nothing, you were just blanking out again." She smiled mischievously, "Was that boy...the one you met? ...Your 'friend'? ...Quote on quote."

"Whaaaa!!??" She slowly turned red, much to the amusement of her peers.

"Oh so that was your boyfriend? He sneaked in to talk to you? That's so cute!!!!"

"N-No it's n-nothing like t-that..."

"Oh I'm so jealous, I wishI had a boyfriend!!"

Aiko saved Maya from commenting further on the subject, "No, you don't..."

"Okay I'm freezing. Let's take a shower and get out of here before we're late for the game!"

* * *

_Hmmm, so how many times have I hauled ass today? One too many..._

Tai walked into the building. He shivered as a blast of cold air from the AC splashed against him.

He walked over to a young woman posting papers and flyers on the bulletin.

"Hello, do you think you could direct me to the check-in office? I'm a foreign exchange student from Germany." (He had again dyed his hair blonde with yet another flask of hairspray. _Who doesn't like portable hairdye?_)

"What? You're from Germany? Oh, uh, the office is...see that corridor? Walk down it...go up the second flight of stairs you come across, andgo up two levels...and the office should be around the end of the hallway..."

"Danke!" he waved good-bye and ran to the corridor. he streaked up the flight of stairs, . Running down, he stopped at an opene with a sign which read "Student Check-in Office". _At least they label things here..._

He walked in, and bumped into an elder, portly man. The man stumbled backwards and fell over.

"Ahhh, I'm so sorry" Tai and a secratary quickly lifted him up. The secretary glared at him before returning to her seat.

"Who are you?" The short, rotund man looked at him, cocking an eyebrow.

"Ah, I'm a foreign exchange student...from Germany..."

"Are you part of theat group which transferred from Berlin?" The man looked hopeful.

"Ja, I guess..."

"What's your name?"

"Uh, Rudolf Deutsch" He spoke the first German-sounding name that came to mind; the name of a German violin maker he had seen in a Music store recently.

"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Deutsch! Your Japanese is superb! I am Mr. Sano, the Student Body Administrator."

"I practice often...But I need more..." He grinned at the man.

"Oh right this way." He led Tai pass several rows of desks, cubicles, and cabinets, to the end of the room. They entered a room which was fairly spacious, and behind the desk in the back was a wall of windows overlooking a courtyard. Tai walked past the man into the room. There was a computer seton the large crescent-shaped desk, surrounded by chairs. There was also a printer and phone.

"Wait right here Mr. Deutsch...I will need to verify your arrival and print out some forms for you to fill okay, okay?"

"Of course..." When Mr. Sano closed the door behind him, Tai cracked a half-bemused, half-sardonicgrin.  
_You left me in a room with a computer?_

He leapt of the desk and landed on the seat. Spinning around, he whipped out a CD-Rom from his jacket and slid it into the drive. He hacked into the administrator's account (with help from certain program on the CD) and went directly to the files containing each personal file for the students. L_et's see...new arrivals...foreign...Germany...here's the Berlin groupies...create new Deutsch...haha, this is hilarious...tution...paid!!! ...personals...classified heh, need what courses that girl is taking..._

open student files..."Ibuki, Maya">>

open "Semester Courses">>

_You've got to be kidding me...all these physics and...human anatomy?...medical sciences...she's an absolute workaholic....kinda like Ritsuko_

copy "Semester Courses">>

Paste in "Courses" for "Deutsch, Rudolf">>

_Now I'll just delete this here...and this...now I can join a sport team...have some free periods...fun._

open "Personals" in file "Ibuki, Maya">>

_Hmmm...let's see...tuition...she didn't pay for it yet? Guess I'll help...there, paid..._

Tai was now a student of the Yushimura University. As "Rudolf Deutsch", he was listed as a recent arrival as part of the Berlin transfer students. Tai quickly printed out his new persona and pocketed it.

Quickly, he ejected the CD and shut off the computer. He then heard the door open just as he got up form the computer. Reacting fast he jumped up and rolled over the top of the desk, landing on one of the outer chairs.

"Sorry I kept you waiting. But I couldn't find you listed in any of the recent arrivals at the airport...but I did find your student file, so you just have to sign some forms, and you're all set."

"Of course." Tai whipped out a pen and took the packet from Mr. Sano's hands.

Five minutes later, he handed it back to the administrator.

"Thank you very much! Oh, and here is your Yushimura student ID card. you'll need it for access to all the facilities an such. Your first class will begin tonight at seven. Before that, we're going to introduce the German transfer students...in about..." he checked his watch, "Ten minutes...I'll take you to the Sports Cmplex, we'll introduce you and the others at the end of the Varsity basketball game."

"Danke. oh yes, and could I pick up a school uniform along the way?"

"Hmmm? Of course."

_I need a shirt...preferably something that isn't ripped up and blood-stained..._

* * *

Maya jumped up and cheered with the rest of her friends as their team clinched a win with a three-pointer from halfcourt. The stadium erupted as the buzzer sounded, declaring the end of the game. 

"Ohmigod!! Did you see that!!??"

"That was amazing!!"

"WhOOOOO!!! GO TEAM!!!"

After the teams headed to their respective lockers, a short, rotund man walked onto the court with a microphone in his hand.

"Isn't that the Student Body Administrator?"

"YeahI think so..."

The man cleared his throat loudly and spoke into the microphone, "Hello! Today, we will introduce some new students who just came from a very far-off place to transfer to Yushimura. Welcome the new German students from Berlin!!!"

A group of foreign students walked onto the court as a group. They seemed rather stiff and pale. But several were looking around curioulsly with smiles on their faces

"Wow they're from Europe!!"

"Kawaii!! That one's so cute!!"

"That one too!!"

"Calm down already! Maya? Are you sure you're okay, you just blanked out again..."

Maya jerked out of the trance she was in. _I thought I just saw Tai in that group..._

"Huh? Sorry, I'm...just tired..."

"You shouldn't have taken all those courses. You want me to drag your dead carcass back to your place?"

"No...I don't live here yet....remember?"

"Oh yeah." Aiko began twirling around a strand of her hair as her attention went back to the administrator. He was introducing the German students one by one.

"Henry Hoenstauf...Thomas Beckers...Heinz Destrauch..." And he continued, until the last last name was called. "Rudolf...Deutsch!"

"Hey, he's pretty cute too!"

A shy-seeming blonde boy walked into the spotlight. Maya immediately choked an dspat out a mouthful of soda, earning glares fomr the unlucky few who sat in front of her.

"Haha Maya that was unexpected."

"Sorry,I was just...shocked a bit."

"By what?"

"N-Nothing," Maya lied.

"Maya...you're blushing again."

"Oh...s-sorry."

Aiko looked at Maya suspiciously. "He's the one...isn't he?"

"N-No...w-well I thought it was him...but as it turns out, it's a different person."

"So you do have a boyfriend! Congratulations!!"

"B-But i-it's not like that!!"

"Suuure..."

* * *

An hour later, Maya was sitting in her seven 'o clock physics class, waiting for the teacher to come. Her friend, Aiko, was sleeping soundly beside her on her books. The large shell-shaped classroom was unusually quiet, as many of it's current occupants were having trouble keeping conscious. She fidgeted with her backpack's strpas, as Aiko bantered on endlessly in her sleep. 

"Mmm...no...don't leave...me...please."

Maya stared at her with an amused expression on her face.

"...No...I need...you."

Maya had trouble keeping a straight face.

"Hmmm...thanks for the...gift...it was pretty..."

Maya quickly hid her face in her arms as she burst out laughing. At that moment, the teacher walked in, followed by none other than Tai himself (aka "Rudolf Deutsch").

"Students, I am sorry that I am late, but this transfer student will be joining this class. Welcome Mr. Rudolf Deutsch!" Maya's head shot up rather quickly, and Aiko soon followed suite. "Say hello class."

"Hello"

"Heeey....isn't it that boy?"

"No of course not! Stop teasing me already."

"Now Mr. Rudolf will introduce himself, so please be polite and listen."

"Guten Tag. My name is Rudolf Deutsch.I am from Berlin, Germany, as many of you might know. I enjoy playing many sports, such as football, or soccer as it is sometimes known, and I also enjoy playing the violin..."

"Excellent! let's see, where would you like to sit?"

Aiko quickly jumped up waved her hand in the air. "Professor, there's an empty seat next to Maya! He can sit there!"

"Kyaa?"

"You'll thank me for this someday."

* * *

Tai looked up at the third level, where the girl he had met, Maya Ibuki, was sitting. 

"Great, You can sit next to MissIbuki, Mr. Deutsch. She is on the third level to your right."

"Of course, danke." _Well...isn't this going to be an interesting class..._

With a casual smile, he walked up the steps and stopped at the third level. Maya opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. In a fluid motion he dropped his book bag onto the long table and slid into his seat.

When the teacher started giving a lecture, he looked at Maya, who blushed furiously, much to the amusementof Aiko. He winked at Maya, "You can still call me Tai..."

* * *

-Tokyo, one year later 

Tai sat in the café, sipping slowly at his coffee. It was snowing outside. He watched as tiny little flakes of ice floated gently to the ground. The outer edges of the window had fogged up and had parts where the snow had collected. He looked at his watch. _She's half an hour late…maybe I should go look for her…_

As he got up to leave, the door of the café opened slowly. A figure covered in snow walked. She was wearing a thick winter coat with a long scarf covering her neck and mouth. She quickly ran over to him, pulling down her scarf.

"Aieee!!! Tai...I'm really sorry, I…um…kind of got held up by the snow and went the wrong direction."

Frowning, he said, "After two years of living here, you still have trouble finding this place?" But then his face broke into a smile, "Just kidding, don't worry, anyone could get lost in this blizzard."

He brushed some snow off her hair.

"You look like an icicle. Do you want hot chocolate or coffee?"

"Huh? O-oh that's alright, I can buy one myself."

"No really, I insist." Tai grinned. "So coffee or chocolate?"

"Um, chocolate."

Two hours later, they were walking back to campus. The snowing had lessened, but it was still sprinkling white powder over them. They were laughing as they joked about school.

"Hey, if you're not too cold, why don't we go to the park?"

"Okay." They didn't notice the camouflaged men who had been tracking their movements since the coffee shop.

Fifteen minutes later, they were in the park.

"Well…Maya?"

"Yes…?"

"There's something I need to tell you...and somethings to give…actually first of all," he smiled as he took out a small box, "This is for you, Merry Christmas…"

Maya smiled. "Wow, thanks a lot Tai." She began to open the box, but Tai put his hand over hers.

"Um…why don't you open it later…Maya…"

Something was wrong. Maya knew that he could have given a gift to her along the way back to the campus. She said, "Um, sure. Tai, you didn't take me here to just give me this right?"

He turned around, looking away from her. "Yes…I did not come here for only that purpose..."

They were standing in a small, snow-covered field in the central park. Tai turned to face her. The smile he had before had been replaced by a cold mask. He took off his glasses. Maya gasped in shock.

"Y-Your…eyes. They're b-brown, instead of blue…"

"My natural eye color is brown and black. Also, my hair, it's also naturally brown."

"Whaaa? Why?"

"…" He withdrew from his pocket his hand. When he opened them, he revealedtwo minisculecontact lense in the palm of his hands. He held them up to her. They had blue pupils lasered into them.

"These are for various security issues…"

"Oh…but, Tai? S-Security issues?"

"You don't seem surprised...too much…ja?"

"Well, I-I have something to tell you…to say… to y-you."

"Well, what is it?" He examined her curiously. She shtill couldn't get used to the fact that she had known him by his diguised appearance for the past school year.

"Um…I…I…" She turned around, with her back to him. She was blushing furiously.

"Yes?"

She turned around to face him.

"I-I…I lo-"

She was suddenly interrupted as the air filled with a whining sound. She heard a soft gasp of pain emit from Tai, as she was suddenly sprayed red with flecks of blood. Her white coat was suddenly drenched in crimson. She stood there, frozen in fear, as she watched Tai's jet-black coat become bright red. He coughed, and some blood dribbled out of the corner of his mouth. He gripped her shoulders.

"T-Tai?"

"…Maya, forgive me, I-I tried…to tell you this before, but I didn't want to leave you so soon…Shit…I…didn't think they would have found me so soon either…"

He pulled out and thrust a small, brown, paper-wrappedpackage into her hands.

"Keep this with you. I'll cover you…go…now…I wrote a letter to explain inside…" He coughed up another mouthful of blood. The snow between them was now dyed red as well.

He turned her around and pushed her gently in the opposite direction.

_Tai, what is happening? You…can't…die…_

Maya heard him whisper hoarsely, "Run back to campus. Forget about our relationship. Act like I had never met you…go, I can cover you for a couple of seconds…NOW!!!" he thrust his hand inside his coat again

Maya stumbled a step, and then sprinted away. Another shot rang out, and turning her head around, she saw Tai jerk around as a bullet struck him. He collapsed on the ground. Several dark figures sprinted to his body. _Tai! _But suddenly, he leapt up from the ground and she saw a shimmer of light in his hands. _A sword??_ He leapt around and struck down the three nearest to him and leapt towards another, but two more shots rang out, and he collapsed to the ground again. _Tai, please get up!_ She ran only a couple meters away, and stood there, paralyzed by the scene unfolding.

A man in a suit walked in front of her and smiled. He pulled out a gun and pointed it right at her. She flinched as a shot rang out, but to her amazement, the bullet somehow missed her. It was as igf something had deflected the bullet. _How...Where did...?_

A shotgun blast sounded, and the man flew backwards, into the snow eagle-spread. His face had a look of shock. A red patch appeared on his chest. She turned. _He's…still alive?_ Tai had pulled out a gun and shot the man who tried to stop her, along with several pursuers. But the othersproceeded to brutallybeat him around. But they ignored her andjust picked up Tai, or his dead body, and were sprinting away, as if in a hurry. The latter thought terrified her and Maya quickly turned to run. She ran as quickly as she could, through the deserted streets of Tokyo, fearing that someone wouldjump out and kill her.

When she got back to the campus, she headed straight to her dorm. She was still in shock. There, Aiko,was watching TV, but when she saw Maya, she quickly jumped up and asked what happened, and whether she was hurt. She just said she was tired and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. There, without changing, she threw herself on the bed and cried herslef to sleep.

* * *

Present time- 

Tokyo-3

Tai walked past a school as he headed toward downtown Tokyo. That memory still haunted him. _Though I managed to survive, unable to see if she was okay…then she turns up working for NERV…part of SEELE_. He walked along past the wall that encircled the schoolyards. The empty schoolyards gave him a sort of, uneasy feeling. He continued walking, though at a slightly quicker pace. The lights from downtown Tokyo shone in the distance.

Later, in the city, Tai walked around. There were small stores everywhere. _Well, definite change form the original Tokyo I'd say_. He scanned the crowd of people walking past him. He didn't see any SEELE agents. _Hmmm…thought there would be SEELE people swarming Tokyo after the NERV siege…_ He walked, while absentmindedly looking at the store windows. A boy suddenly appeared and collided into Tai's stomach.

"Agh!" Tai reached out and snatched his glasses in mid-air.

"Ooof!" The boy stumbled backwards.

_Well, isn't this familiar_, he bemused as he grabbed one of the boy's flailing arms.

"My apologies. I wasn't paying attention."

"Oh, I'm sorry! That was my **pant** fault. **pant** I was rushing."

"No problem," Tai looked over the boy, "Just try to be careful next time." He pushed up his glasses

The boy was wearing a school uniform and apparently had been running for a bit. _Crazy school uniform…haven't worn one in a bit…_ He had sweat running down his forhead, even thoug hit was an autumn night.

"Thanks again!" The boy disappeared into the surging crowd. Tai bit his lip as he stood there thinking.

_There was blood on his sleeve…well…I have some spare time…_

End. Chp. 6

* * *

Omake (ATS!)6 

Maya and Tai are standing on stage. Audience applauds.

Tai: hello again, and thank you for reading NGE: Revelations.

Maya: Well, so how was Chapter 6?

"Kinda short...er..."

Tai: So?

"It was great!"

Maya: Thank you!?

"Did you really break into the girls' locker room?

Tai: Unfortunately yes...that shall haunt me for the rest of my pathetic life.

"HAHAHA!! I think it was brilliant!! Absolutely hilarious!! So the girls were wearing only towels and you were only wearing your pants...!!I wish that coulda been me!!"

Tai: Rick...shut up and get out of the audience!!!

Rick: Sorry...HAHAHA!!!! (quickly streaks out of theater as Tai thrusts his hand into his coat)

"Were you present at the last show?"

Maya: Um…no, we were busy.

"Oh…we said Rei and Shinji were a great couple!"

"We think you two are also!"

Tai blushes and scratches his head nervously. Maya just blushes and looks at her feet.

Raucous laughter is heard from behind the curtains, followed by many loud coughs.

Tai: Kaji!!!!?

A hoarse "yes" is heard and is followed by more coughing and hacking. A loud thump is heard and more laughter follows.

Tai: Uh people...Maya? Excuse me for a bit, but I think we are having some technical difficulties in the back...I'll fix them.

Tai disappears behind curtains. Sounds of scuffling erupt from behind the curtain. The audience begins to whisper to each other

"Ow!!! Damn it, Tai!"

"Damn yourself!"

"Tai, calm down. TAI PUT THAT THING DOWN FOR GOD SA-"

A sudden CRASH followed by sound of pieces of breaking glass. A loud thump is heard.

"...Ow..."

"Eww touchy touchy...PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

"Serves you right..."

"Tai, that was mean..."

Maya: Uh Tai?

Tai emerges from the curtains sporting some bruises and cuts.

Tai: I feel much better...you okay Maya?

Maya: (has a shocked look on her face) ah yes I am...

Kaji crawls out from behind the curtains sporting multiple bruises, lacerations, and broken bones.

Kaji: My face! How could you?

Tai: There was this big vase that was just asking to be smashed into someone's face...next time exert more control over your mouth.

Ritsuko limps out of the curtains.

Ritsuko: TAI MY DRESS!!!! Oh why hello Maya. Yes...and there are three other unconscious people back there, _Tai_...

Maya: Oh hello

Tai: okay let's go now...

Tai drags Kaji's broken body off the stage. A furious Ritsuko follows, leaving Maya on the stage

Maya: (trembling) Uh h-hello people.

Catcalls and cheering from male section of audience.

"You can do it!"

"We believe in you!!"

Maya: (spontaneously produces a microphone. "wow _she's so dedicated!!"_) Erm...thanks...okay. Any questions? Comments?

"Tell us about your background?"

Maya: Kyaa!? I'm sorry, but can't do that...the writer said that you'd have to find out for yourselves...

"How do you _feel_ about Tai?"

Maya: Ehhh? (blushes furiously)

Tai suddenly appears and whips out his own microphone.

Tai: Hello people, that questionis not authorized by me or the writer...please stop embarrassing her or else I will hunt all of you down...I know where you live...(pulls out an automatic shotgun)

Maya: Tai you didn't...don't...have...to...

Tai: **cough** That's what friends are for. Let's go now.

Rei walks onto the stage. Tai hands her his microphone as he walks off dragging Maya by the hand.

Rei: Good Evening. I do hope you enjoyed this last chapter, which reveals the connection between Tai and Maya and how they met. As you can guess, they pretend that they're just friends...(she smiles briefly, quickly drawing the full attention of the crowd. Everyone knows Ayanami has something important to say when she shows emotion) but the rest of the cast thinks otherwise.

Kaji strolls onto the stage. He has been heavily bandaged, but is walking without a limp amazingly.

Kaji: Such as me! Hopefully, within the next few chapters, I willalso be attempting to win back Misato, though i do believe I already have...(winks at the crowd)

Ayanami: Incoming...

Kaji: Yes Rei?

Kaji is sent sprawling off the stage with a well-aimed beer bottle. Audience groans.

Ritsuko walks backonto the stage.

Ritsuko: (yells to a certainsomeone in the back of the audience)Misato...? That wasn't very nice...I know for a factyou two still have feeling, so stop being a wuss. If you keep this up you're going to end up killing Kaji before you two start dating again.

Misato: (Somewhere in the back of the theater) #### YOU!! WHY DON'T YOU TRY DATING SOMEONE FOR A CHANGE??? WHEN WAS LAST TIME THAT HAPPENED???

Ritusko blushes and retreats off the stage, amid laughter from the crowd.

Rei: Any questions? Comments?

"Yeah, Rei, you always wear that same school uniform. It's really cute on you, but we think you should try wearing something else."

Asuka walks onto stage sporting a very stylish white dress. But kind of short...a certain half of the audience issues cheers and catcalls.

Rei: Such would you suggest?

"SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!!"

Asuka: I don't think wondergirl would want to wear this...it's just not her style.

"So? She should still wear it!!"

FireDragonBL walks onto stage.

BL: Hi people, ignore, I just want to see what happens...

"I wanna see Rei go all kung-fu again!!!!"

Asuka: That could be arranged...

BL: It could be, but not today. Don't worry, Rei will kick your sorry ass sooner or later...

Asuka: You just asked for death...

Asuak proceedsdrags BL off the stage.

BL: NOOOO!!! MERCY!!!! KAJIII HELLLLP!!!!

Kaji: (has a shocked expression)Sorry, but I can't really move that fast right now...

Asuak drags him outside the theater. More screaming is heard.

Misato: ...Hmm, yeah I guess that wraps it on, we've gotta save the writer before Asuka decapitates him...

Lights blink out as they walk off stage.

End ATS/Omake 6 (Now I know what the hell these things are called. thx to lawless priest)

oh yeah to clarify things about my views...first off dammit Maya IS STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!...screw the damn movie...this is a rewrite remember? Anyways, the producer was high when he wrote the script so the movie was doomed anyways...

Rei may have part of poor Yui's soul trapped inside of her...BUT SHE IS NOT SHINJI'S MOTHER DAMMIT!!!!!!!!! SHE'S HER OWN PERSON!!!!

**exhales** i feel much better...

seven wont be out for a bit...damn midterms

ok thx for reading...please review...


	7. Chp 7 Police Cars and Computer Carts

Chp. 7 Police Cars and Computer Carts

Tai followed the boy, who dove in and out of the crowd. _Heh, he's pretty fast…_thought Tai as he sprinted back a electronics outlet. The boy turned a corner at an intersection in the street. Tai soon followed suite. But at the corner he found that the boy had disappeared. Looking around, he scanned the sea of heads, but couldn't see the boy. _He's good…heh. _

When he turned around, he saw boy. The boy had entered the pharmacy at the corner, which was why he had disappeared so suddenly. Through the display glass, Tai watched the boy walk down an aisle with bandages and disinfectant. _Maybe that's why he had blood on his shirt…_

Tai entered the pharmacy. A security camera centered itself on his face. Frowning, he instinctively raised his hand over his face, making sure they didn't get any recordings of him. _…That definitely was not smart…_

Shinji walked down the aisle. Spotting a large roll of sport bandages, he grabbed a roll, as well as a medical tape off the shelf. Walking briskly past a section of ankle reinforcers, he searched frantically for a certain type of disinfectant. _…Damn…where's the fsking disinfectant?_

"Looking for this?"

Shinji turned his head and found a bottle of the disinfectant he was looking for in his face. He grasped it, and the hand holding it let go.

"Wow, uh…thanks…"

"No problem."

Shinji looked at his rescuer, and his jaw fell open. _AIIIEEEE! It's that guy I knocked over! That creepy guy with the black outfit and freaky shades…he's like stalkin' me!_ …_but I guess it was my fault…I was in a rush and smacked into him…_

"Um, do I know you?"

"No…at least…not personally."

The black-clad man looked out the window, his expression flat and void of life, but when he looked back at Shinji, his face broke into the smile.

"Well? Aren't you supposed to be in a hurry?"

"Huh…? OH CRAP REI!"

Shinji spun around and streaked towards the cashier. The young, scrawny cashier grinned at him.

"I see you're in a hurry!"

"Brilliant observation!" grunted Shinji, which was quite unlike him. _Must hurry!_

"That will be…¥900!"

"Whatever…" Shinji thrust a hand into his pocket, expecting to find his wallet, but he found instead chewing gum, a paperclip, and an eraser. _Oh god…well there's my eraser…I am so stupid…forgot my wallet…_

"Well?"

Shinji opened his mouth to tell the cashier to wait a second, but a thousand-yen bill was shoved in front of the cashier's face. Shinji's jaw both closed and opened in wonder. _Ohmigod…_

"Thank you…and here's your change." The cashier gave Shinji the change and receipt, while smiling at the young man behind Shinji.

"Would you like them in a bag?"

"Huh? Oh, um, sure, thanks."

Outside, Shinji attempted to thank the man.

"Ahh, I'm really grateful for your help," He bowed, "Thank you very much!"

"No problem. We haven't introduced ourselves…My name is Tai Kotone…what's yours?"

"Uh, Shinji…Shinji Ikari…"

"I see, well it was nice to meet you!"

"Yeah, thanks for everything, and sorry about running into you."

"That's fine…"

Tai watched the boy run away. _Always good to meet some new people…_ He turned and began walking the other way. _Shinji Ikari…hmmm…where do I remember this from…?_ A scary thought struck him like a thunderbolt.

Flashback-

"Tai, I'm coming with you!"

"No you're not…you're supposed to be dead."

"So? I don't care! I want to make sure my kids are fine!"

Tai slipped and fell flat on his face.

"Ow dammit…You have children?" He shot a dirty look at Kaji, who choked on a mouthful of beer and shook his head furiously.

"No I'm talking about _the_ Children!"

"I know that! Was it Kaji?"

"NO you idiot! I'm talking about the pilots!"

"Oh…I see…" he laughed, "You nearly had me there…I'll see you in a couple of days…" Misato proceeded to whack him with a lunch tray. Kaji whistled in amazement as Tai stumbled into a table and fell over. Matt roared with laughter as he watched the scene unfold.

"OKAY TAI I'M COMING WITH YOU! GOT IT?"

"Say whaa?"

"It think you killed one too many brain cells of his, Misato."

"Nah, I'm alright…now…no Misato you can't come…I promise to check on your kids…"

"THEY'RE NOT MY KIDS! I mean, well they're not mine technically, but still…I'm their guardian…and…"

"What are their names?"

"Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Sohryu, and Rei Ayanami. Rei Ayanami doesn't reside in my apartment…and just so you're warned…she doesn't lock the door to her apartment…and she's not the most modest person there either, so just make sure you don't walk in on her showering. The other two live in my condo. This is my address…" She handed him a slip of paper.

"They live together? They engaged or something? I mean, form what I heard, they're still in high school." Rick sipped at his beer, "Don't worry, I spent a month researching on them…couldn't get too much information though...but I did find some interesting recordings of their activities…"

"Rick shut up…"

"Anyways Tai, if I stay here, you will check on them and make sure they're okay…clear?" Misato raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Of course…don't worry Misato, I'll do my best." Tai swung his long black overcoat over his shoulder. But then he decided against it and handed it to Li-chan and asked her if she could drop it off at his cabin. She smiled and nodded.

"Yeah he'll probably check 'em in at the finest orphanage he can find." That earned Rick an empty bottle of root beer.

"Oooooo…that left a mark…"

-Present time

Tai stopped abruptly, his eyes widened as he realized…

_OH SHIT!_

He whipped around and hurtled through the crowd after the boy. _Damn, I knew I should have had another cup of coffee!_

Shinji sped through the streets of Tokyo ad a maddening pace. _Damn have to hurry…_

The huge apartment building loomed ahead. _Argh there were so many people in my way! But I really have to be grateful to that guy…_

He ignored the elevator and streaked up the stairs. At the door, he reached into his pocket, but then remembered he had forgotten to lock the door. He swiftly ran inside and kicked off his sneakers. Tiptoeing down the hallway he walked past Asuka's room. When he got past he resumed the ten-foot sprint to his (now Rei's) room. He gently pushed open the door, finding Rei unconscious, or sleeping, on the floor. Panicking, he ran over and shook her gently.

"Rei!" He whispered, "Rei? Are you alright?"

She turned her head and looked at him drowsily.

"I'm sorry, I was just tired…"

"No no…t-that's alright! Here, I got the bandages and stuff, can you sit up?"

She slowly got and sat against the wall. Shinji noticed with some anxiety that there was still a puddle of blood near her. _It hasn't dried…so she's been bleeding for the past forty minutes or so…_

"Um, hold still, I'll put some disinfectant on…"

Tai ran across the street, using his crazy skills to avoid traffic. He leapt and rolled over cars while rolling under trucks. He was followed by many pairs of amazed eyes. Usually, he wouldn't do half the crazy things he did now. But he was in a hurry. That was his reason for acting crazy and doing crazy stunts.

Unfortunately, he was hit by an equally crazy driver shortly after turning a corner. The impact diverted him off his route, causing him to lose his quarry along with a couple more brain cells…bloods cells too, on that note.

"Aiiiieeee! Are you okay? I'm soooo sorry!"

"Lady! You nearly killed the poor kid!"

"I'm not a kid…ow damn it…my ass…" _I'm just a little…over eighteen…I don't think I'm a 'kid'…_

Tai lifted himself up from what was left of a bench and trashcan, gripping his back. He brushed his shirt off, coughing out some blood. People were beginning to gather around to see what was going on. _Oh great…more attention…_

"Are you okay?"

"Yes mam, calm down, I'll live…"

"Ohmigod! I can't believe I hit you!" The young woman was flipping out right in front of him. _…I take it you're schizophrenic…_

_Fortunately I managed to throw myself back a bit to absorb the impact…it was mostly the bench that hurt…_

"Yeah, neither can I. I'm wondering how you managed to drive through that newspaper stand over there."

"Oh, um, well, I kinda…lost control?"

"That's nice, I'm off…"

He quickly strode away, the crowd parting to make a path for him. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of police sirens and an ambulance as well. He immediately broke into a run as the cops pulled into the intersection nearby.

"OH HELL NOOO!"

Shinji finished wrapping up the 5-inch gash on Rei's arm. He smiled at her.

"Well…there…it's done."

"Thank you, Shinji…"

Shinji blushed when he heard this. He was still getting used to Rei calling him by his first name.

"Umm…I'll…uh go get some paper towel to clean up the blood…and some drinks…yeah, ummm…you lost a lot of blood there…"

"…Thank you…Shinji"

Shinji blushed and ran to the bathroom.

Rei sat there, nodding off. _Why is he doing this for me…? Shinji…Ikari…what am I to you…? A friend…fellow pilot…is that all? …What are you to me…? I do not know…maybe also a friend…_

She rested her on her knee, as she inspected Shinji's handiwork. It no longer hurt any more, but was still rather numb. Rei felt rather weak, after losing so much blood. She blinked sleepily.

Closing her eyes, she imagined Shinji when they first met. She was severely injured, and he had not only shown her kindness and care, but had even decided to pilot Eva on account of her. He remembered when he had held her and shielded her with his own body during the first angel attack on NERV. During the fight with the seventh angel, he had done what his father had done before; he burned his hands to open the scalding hot door of her tube. But the difference, she had learned, between Shinji and his father before him, was that his father cared for her, due to the fact that he needed her as a pilot and that she was his "reincarnation" of his wife, Yui, as she had some of Yui's genes, as well as soul, in her. But she wasn't Yui, and never would be. But she didn't know who she really was. _I am not…a doll…I am a human being…_

But a mocking from the back of her head said, _Are you so sure about that? You are artificial…created…by humans…_

_I was human before…_

Yes…but not anymore… 

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

Shinji, on the other hand, had burned himself to protect her, to make she was safe. She remembered those words he had said to her…_"Someday, we'll both be glad that we survived this day." I wonder what he meant by that?_

He had taught her what a smile was, and what it meant…_"People smile when they're happy. You should smile too."_

He had told her the second meaning of crying… _"Why are you crying, Ikari-chan? Are you always sad?" "No, you stupid, I'm crying because I'm happy…that you're safe…"_

But he always viewed himself as weak and cowardly. He openly admitted to being weak and cowardly. _But Ikari-kun…you're not weak at all…you've piloted the Eva to protect the ones you care about…that is not weak…you may show people on the outside, that you're shy and insecure about the world, but on the inside, you're quite strong…you shouldn't be afraid…_

She smiled to herself in the darkness of the room.

On board the _Peneatrator_, Ritsuko slowly paced around her cabin. She thought back, to before the attack on NERV. She had forsaken her friends, Misato…Kaji…

But Kaji was still willing to talk to her.

But what about Misato? They hadn't actually come in direct contact on the sub yet. She sighed and sat down at the small desk by the table. _Misato…will you ever forgive me…I'm so sorry…_

She remembered how she had killed all the clones of Rei, in spite of the Commander, who had betrayed her love. It was because of Rei? No, it really wasn't, it was Gendo. He would never let go of his wife, Yui. Ritsuko didn't blame Yui, she didn't care that she had lost to Yui, but she had to blame someone. So she had blamed Rei. She had nearly caused Shinji to go insane. She remembered the look on Misato's eyes when she saw Shinji collapse to the ground in shock. She had glared at Ritsuko, with disgust and anger. She wanted to take out her pistol and shoot her.

Now what their relationship? Were they still friends? No, probably not. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the cool surface of the metal desk. A laptop, a gift from Kaji, lay beside her on the desk. A tear dropped and fell onto the desk. _This is all my fault…I should never have done that to Rei…tried to kill her…I also should killed the Commander when I had the chance…the bastard…how the hell did I ever fall in love with him…?_

Misato walked through the halls, fuming. Walking by her side was a smiling Kaji, who had a hand placed behind Misato to make sure she didn't turn back.

"Why the hell do y—"

"You two have been friends for like forever, longer you and I…I can't let such a pretty friendship go bad," He winked at her, "'Specially between two fine women such as yourselves…"

"She is no longer my friend! She betrayed US!"

"No, actually that was me…"

"Oh…well anyways she's gone crazy…I told you about what she did with the clones, didn't I?"

"Yes…but I think she's regained her old self back again. I've already met with, and she seems happy to see me." He flashed a smile at a girl who walked by, making her gape at him.

"Kaji…stop that…"

"Sorry, couldn't resist. Heh."

"So Tai…he really did…save…you?"

"Saved you yes…"

"No I mean you…"

"Actually…no," his cheery atmosphere disappeared, replaced with a more serious expression, "Truth be told we said that just to keep you from…thinking about my activities too much…I killed the agent…myself…"

Misato looked at him in surprise. "Y-you're not joking…are you?"

"I told you, I work as an intelligence gatherer and double-agent…I'd be ashamed if I didn't learn to defend my self yet…"

"I see…"

"We're here!" They stopped at a another cabin door.

"Where?"

"Ritsuko!" He smiled. "Where else do you think we were going? Io saw a spark of friendship back at the base, when you hugged her!"

"…"

Kaji took the same card he had used to open Tai's cabin out.

"This baby will now gain me access to any part of the ship! Tai gave it to me."

"I'll make sure to bolt the door when I go to sleep then…"

"They're sliding."

"Shut up."

Kaji swiped the card through the panel slot and the door slid open. Kaji gently pushed Misato inside. He then proceeded to close the door in her face, waving at her with a big grin on his face.

"Play nice! You're not getting out until you two are best of friends again"

"KAJI!" She angrily punched the door, earning some bloody knuckles.

"M-Misato?"

"…Ritsuko…well…how are you?" She asked coldly, her eyes glaring at the astonished scientist.

"M-Misato…?" She looked at Misato in surprise, from her desk. Apparently, she had been crying.

"What?" Ritsuko

"Ah…I…I'm really sorry…for everything…I've been a complete idiot…can you ever forgive me?" She fell unto Misato's shoulder sobbing.

Misato was stunned. From before now, had thought of cutting all connections to her college friend. She had been insane, mad, but now here she was, apologizing. Was she truly sorry? Or was this just another act? No, she wouldn't have any reason to be like this anymore. The secrets were all out. She was sorry. _Ritsuko…_

"Ritsuko…" Her voice trailed off as she felt the tears coming. "Ritsuko…"

She hugged the shaking figure as she started crying as well.

"Ritsuko, it's…all right…"

Outside, Kaji had his ear pressed against door. He smiled when heard Misato's forgiving of Ritsuko. _Well, that's one problem down…_

"Kaji, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hmm? Just listening to talk between two old friends…"  
Matt frowned in a confused manner at Kaji, as he strolled away jauntily.

Kaji walked on to the Mess Hall, determined to catch up on his drinking activities. That brought him to another conclusion. _I don't think Misato's had a drink ever since the attack…has she?_

At the line, he placed an order for some ramen, as he thought about his job as a double-agent, and about Misato, his feelings for her. _So, what will our relationship be like now?_

He had joined shortly after parting ways with Misato. He had wanted to do something, to expose the ones who initiated the Second Impact, and ended up snatching a job off their desk. But he had done so for a reason. He was already working for the Japanese Government's Department of the Interior, working to find the true going-ons at NERV. Essentially, he was a double-agent, just like what he had always wanted to be. Saving the world…

"Here's your beef ramen!"

"Thank you. Smells great!"

"Oh yeeeaaah!"

Kaji grinned as he walked away from the counter, carrying the lunch tray. Sitting down at a table alone, he thought about random things_…James Bond…my idol, heh…maybe I should go practice at the shooting range_

"Ohmigod! He's beautiful!"

Kaji was snapped out of a dream concerning him using a rocket launcher by the unmistakable hunting cry of females. _Uh-oh…_

Rei leaned against the fall, nodding off again. Shinji had been gone for ten minutes, and she was still feeling a bit dizzy. A couple minutes ago, she had attempted to get up, but collapsed back onto the floor. She bit her lip as she struggled up again, leaning on the nearby cabinet for support. Breathing heavily, she leaned against the small piece of polished wood as she tried to stabilize herself. She felt rather faint, and that she might actual faint if the dizziness continued.

She slowly stumbled out of the room, right into the loaded arms of a confused Shinji.

"AIEE! Rei! What are you doing? You shouldn't be moving right now."

"I am fine, Ikari-kun, just a bit tired…you need not worry your— "

Shinji dropped everything he was holding, save the glass of orange juice, and caught Rei as she fell forward.

"I'm sorry…"

"No, it's not your fault."

She nodded weakly in his arms. Gingerly, he half-carried, half-guided her back into the room, all the while precariously balancing a glass of orange juice. _Why didn't I just get a can of soda?_

Gently, he helped her sit down against the wall, and handed her the cup of juice with a small, decidedly embarrassed, smile. She politely took the drink offered and sipped at it.

Rei took a long sip, as her crimson eyes darted quickly to Shinji's face. Her was watching her with a smile. Her eyes quickly darted back to her drink, as her face yet again flushed with color. Fortunately, it was dark. But Shinji noticed the glance anyways.

"Um, why are you so worried?"

"Hmmm?"

Tai limped up the stairs. He was clutching at his leg, which was bleeding profusely. _Just my luck…I get hit by a car, attacked by an old couple who thought I was a pickpocket 'cause my clothes were dirty, and then the elevator is broken…it couldn't get any worse now…could it?_

"RUNAWAY CART!"

"What?" He looked up the stairs in surprise. The surprise met him head on.

"OH HELL N—" He was sent back tumbling down the stairs with a seventy-pound computer cart and dozens of computers.

"OhMIGOD! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?"

Lying flat on his back on the first floor of the condo building with a hundred pound cart sitting on his chest and stomach, Tai was on the verge of tears. _I hate my life…_

"Ooops, watch out for the last one!" Tai tilted his head to the side to see what was coming down the stairs this time. He eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he saw another cart barreling down the stairs towards him far past breakneck speed.

Oh good Lord… 

He was cut off as he was struck with another cart in an explosion of paper. The resulting impact sent the other cart onto his face as the new one landed on his unprotected stomach. Ironically, this one bore books, including a huge, leather-bound Bible which proceeded to fall off the cart and "smite Tai with the will of God". He was also "smited" by several encyclopedias and an English almanac (don't ask why).

Now he was crying. Both from excruciating pain and the fact that Lady Luck had ran off with some other guy.

While Tai was attempting to scale the walls of the fortress, Shinji took a seat beside Rei. He had just finished cleaning the puddle of blood from the wooden floor. He noted that she was shivering slightly. He quickly ran out of the room to the alarm of Rei, who was still a little light-headed from blood loss. He came back soon with some blankets. To, Rei's surprise, he draped two of them over her shoulder.

"Thank you, Shinji-kun."

"Ah, um, you're welcome…uh, you're done with it?" he gestured towards the cup.

"Yes, thank you." She said, as he took the empty cup from her. "Thank you…for everything…" she added, as an afterthought, after he ran out the room.

Once again, he appeared and sat down beside her. Smiling politely at her, he asked, "So, um, how's your arm feeling?"

She blinked at him. "It is fine now…thank you. The pain has gone away. It's only numb now." She closed her eyes as she hugged her blanket around her shoulders.

"Wow," he looked at his watch, "it's practically midnight."

She opened her eyes yes.

He got up to leave, "Well, goodnight." He waved and made to leave the room.

"Shinji…"

"Yes Ayanami?"

"Um…" She looked down and closed her eyes. She inhaled.

"U-Um…uh…Shinji-kun? U-Um c-could you k-keep me company?"

Shinji couldn't believe his ears. One thing: REI JUST STUTTERED AGAIN! The second, most important thing: SHE ASKED ME TO KEEP HER COMPANY!

_What a sec…brain processing information…does not compute why? Why would she ask…that? But I guess it's okay, she seems to need a friend right now…but still…_

She looked at him with those pretty crimson eyes…a sudden look of sadness reflected in them.

_ARGH SHE'S TOO CUTE TO RESIST…_

About twenty seconds later, he was sidling up next to Rei with his own blanket. _…Wow…she's warm…_

Meanwhile, Tai woke up in a hospital all bandaged up. The nurse walked over to him and asked with a friendly smile, "Well, how are you?"

"Huh? I'm…fine, how did I get here?"

"An old lady called an ambulance and brought you in. Seems you had a nasty run-in with some carts. She was worried sick about you. Afraid she'd killed you or something." She flashed another strange smile at him, one which Tai couldn't discern whether to be friendly, or something more than that.

"How long was I out?"

"Only about half an hour…you surprised us. We didn't expect you to wake for at least 48 hours…due to the severity of the injuries you received."

"Well I feel fine. I'm checking out. Thanks for the medicine." He yawned.

He then proceeded to jump off the bed. It was not a very smart idea, as he was still attached to several machines, and he gasped in pain as medical tape and needles were yanked out of his body. _Ahhh the pain!_

The young nurse giggled. "That wasn't very smart, now."

"No, I guess it wasn't." He managed to grin at her through the pain.

But the pain at least woke him up. He welcomed it. Pain wasn't a weakness, it was a strength. Another strength would be the ability to treat pain not as a weakness, but a strength. Pain sharpened his senses, and also relayed to his brain his weak points. That way, he would be able to protect them.

He immediately blushed. His now-fully-awake-from-pain senses brought him to the conclusion that he was half naked, which was the reason why the nurse was studying him so intently.

"Uh, where are my clothes?"

"Oh, sorry, I'll get them!"

Ten minutes later, Tai attempted to check out at the front desk. He was flatly rejected.

"WHY NOT?"

"Well, first of all, it's about one in the morning…and your injuries are rather severe…I'm surprised you actually moving, let alone standing."

"Well, I am, and I feel great, may I go now?"

"I'm sorry. But no. Your ID…it is also…peculiar."

The thought struck him. They must have taken his wallet. He patted himself down.

"Where are my personal effects, including my suitcase?"

"They're being held in custody by the police. Your ID seemed rather strange, they said. And are you authorized to carry a gun?"

"Yes." He stared at her with a confused look on his face

"Oh, okay…" she smiled at him, "Just checking."

"So, where are my belongings again?"

"Don't worry, the police will be back soon."

Suddenly, a woman ran into the lobby and turned Tai around.

"Uh, do I know you?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I can't believe I hit you with two carts!"

"That's fine." Tai tugged uncomfortably at his fleece turtleneck.

At that point, the police chose to arrive. An officer, along with several others, walked up to him and asked politely whether he was "Tai Kotone". He answered yes. The man smiled and handed back Tai's wallet and suitcase.

"Interesting suitcase case you got there…we tried to open it, but it was sealed tight…we also tried to run scans on it, but it seems that your building material does not allow any x-rays to penetrate. Our metal detectors didn't work as well."

"I'm rather attached to my privacy, y'know." He smiled politely at the officer.

The officer looked at him with a suspicious stare. "Have I seen you before?"

"I don't think so…"

end chp

k people review

Omake 7

FireDragonBL walks on to stage.

BL: Nihao! So what'd you think?

"It was short, but good!"

BL: (magicks a bottle of beer out of thin air and pops the cap off) that's good, that's always good.

Ritsuko walks onto stage.

Ritsuko: ...You're in high school...

BL: Kaji and Tai already told me that...

Ritsuko: you're underage...

BL: My ID states that I am EIGHTEEN.

Tai Kaji: WE KNOW!

BL: Oh, hello there makes to drink the beer

Tai pulls out a gun (no not a Magnum, else he would take BL's head off) and shoots the bottle out of BL's hands.

BL: YOU YOU YOU I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUYOU YOUYOU! THAT'S IT I NOW USE MY SECRET WRITER'S TECHNIQUE! ALTERNATE ENDING NO JUTSU! (does some crazy hand seals)

Kaji: Isn't that like...naruto or something?

BL: HAHAHA NOW MAYA WILL BE PAIRED WITH MATT!

Tai falls to the ground crying.

BL: YOUR TURN!

Kaji: Huh?

BL: ALTERNATE ENDING NO JUTSU (does crazy hand seals)! HAHAHAHAHA NOW MISATO WILL BE PAIRED WITH-

Misato walks onto the stage and shoots BL with a 12 gauge shotgun.

BL: Nooooooooo...I have been defeated...

Misato: Don't worry Tai, I shot Matt...

Tai still lays on the floor weeping like a child.

Misato: MAYA IBUKI SUMMONING NO JUTSU! (takes out a scroll that looks oddly like a cell phone and does some crazy hand seals)

With a puff of smoke, Maya appears next to Tai, who stops crying immediately and gives Maya a bear hug.

Maya: T-Tai? H-How d-did I get here?

Kaji: Whoa...I have gotta learn that spell...

-meanwhile-

"Shinji!"

"Yes Asuka?"

"HURRY UP WE'RE ALREADY LATE AS IT IS!"

"Sorry."

"Be nice to Shinji-chan, you're the one who forced him to cook dinner."

"He always does, wondergirl."

"I see..."

-meanwhile-

BL's body suddenly explodes into a puddle of water.

Misato: WHAAA?

BL: HAHA PH34R M4 L337 NiNj4 SKILLZ! I USED MY WATER CLONE TECHNIQUE!

Meanwhile, Ritsuko is looking at Tai and Maya.

Ritsuko: Wow, they're realy a cute couple...

Maya: Um ,Tai?

Tai: Yes?

Maya: You're c-choking me

Tai: Oh, sorry!

Bakc to BL.

BL: Now I shall use my signature move...CHIDORIIIII NO JUTSUUUUUU!

Kaji: Isn't that like kakashi hatake's signature move?

BL: SHUT UP! (does some crazy seals, and hand starts glowing)

Misato: RASENGAN! (And a glowing ball of energy appears in her hand)

BL: BRING IT!

Audience screams in fear as lightning crackles through the theater.

about five seconds later BL's body is lying on the floor again with a large smoking hole in the chest. Misato's dead body is lying on the floor the same way with the same characteristic.

Kaji: ...dangerous...

Tai: (not paying attention) Maya...

Maya: (not paying attention either) Yes, Tai?

Ritsuko: Can I write the script now?

-meanwhile-

BL is walking in the park.

BL: oh hello haven't seen you in a while.

Unit-00: Right back at ya! So how's the show going?

BL: Fine, just gotta work on the aftershow...which reminds me, I left a clone or twoto fill in for me tonight again...I should probably go check on 'em...wanna come?

Unit-00: sure

end omake


End file.
